A spokesman for influential Buddhist organization Ma Ba Tha says members will lobby the government to pass a law that will enable them to launch two radio stations, and any bureaucratic obstruction will not be interpreted favorably.
Responding to recent comments made by Minister of Information Ye Htut that cast doubt on Ma Ba Tha’s ideas for the airwaves, U Parmoukkha, a senior official with the group, told the Irrawaddy last week that while “we can’t do it without their support,” opposition would be interpreted as hurtful to the cause of preserving Buddhism.
Just over a week ago, Ma Ba Tha marked the end of its second annual national conference in Yangon by announcing plans to build two radio stations with financing from co-religionists in Thailand.
Days later, Minister of Information Ye Htut said that Ma Ba Tha couldn’t go ahead as Myanmar currently lacks a law to regulate radio. A new Broadcast Law, however, is in the works.
Ma Ba Tha’s plans sparked concerns that the airwaves could be a platform for incendiary speech, but Parmoukkha said that wasn’t the case at all.
“We have no idea to spread hate. Our sermons don’t give hate but will make you smile,” he said last week, according to Radio Free Asia. “Also, our religion will last longer than 5,000 years if we will record and spread it around the country.”
The station for Ma Ba Tha (an acronym for the Association to Protect Race and Religion) is one of several ideas the group is exploring that has observers worried, including lobbying the government to ban the Islamic veil and to prohibit the ritual slaughter of animals during an Islamic holiday after Ramadan.
Photo of Buddhist nationalist rally in Yangon in May, 2015 / Coconuts Media
