Sittwe-based Monk's Boycott Committee recently issued a statement and distributed it in monasteries in Sittwe, urging senior monks to oppose military rule in Burma, by Buddhist law, according to U Saw Hla Kyaw, from a Human Rights organization in Sittwe.
"The statement was distributed in the monasteries in Sittwe last week and it is intended for some senior monks, who are cooperating with the junta in return for opportunities from the authority," he said.
In Sittwe, a few senior monks are close associates of the military junta authorities as the monks have received favours from the junta in the form of cement, timber, tin and cash as well as the monk's title awarded by the junta annually. A few monks are known to regularly cooperate with the military authorities
"The military authority understands how to mobilize senior monks in Sittwe. So the authorities mobilized them by giving opportunities to monks in return for supporting the military government," Mr Saw said.
Due to this, a few senior monks in Sittwe have refused entry to monk students to pursue religious studies in their monasteries, hoping for further favours and opportunities from the junta.
According to local sources, some monks in Sittwe used to inform the authority like spies, when they saw young monks plan any activities against the military junta.
According to a monk from Sittwe, "The authority knows about our plan against the junta, beforehand, because some senior monks here inform the authorities about our activities. So, I thought the statement was likely to be issued by the Monk's Boycott Committee aiming to stop such activities."
In the statement, the monks committee mentioned that as Buddhist monks they need to follow the Buddha's instruction and counsel and not follow the junta's instruction. In the event of following the junta's instruction, Buddhist monks do not remain followers of Buddha, but change into followers of the junta.
Moreover, the committee said that the military junta was repressing their religion with arms, so Buddhist monks needed to fight against the repressive military rule in accordance with Buddhist law.
The Monk's Boycott Committee was formed by some young monks in Sittwe, during the Saffron Revolution of 2007, to opposite the Burmese military oppression on the people and monks of Burma.
