Insein neighborhood committee issues notice ordering resident to halt prayer services

A neighborhood notice ordering the resident of a neighborhood in Insein Township to cease conducting prayer services in his apartment has been angering Myanmar social media users who are calling it an insult to freedom of religion and oppression of citizens’ rights. The letter was uploaded by user Chan Myae Khine who hashtagged it #BullshitBurma.

The notice, dated May 15, is addressed to U Saw Paw Wa Htoo, a resident of Insein Township’s Ywar Ma A Nauk neighborhood. It claims that someone has reported Saw Paw Wa Htoo for conducting weekly prayer services in his apartment akin to those that are carried out in a place of worship. The letter is signed by the chairman of the neighborhood development committee, and asks Saw Paw Wa Htoo to cease all services until he has successfully applied for the relevant legal permits.

While some commenters have posited that perhaps the complaint was more about noise disturbance that the prayers are causing, Chan Myae Khine rightfully responded that if that were the case, then the letter should’ve and would’ve been worded differently. Several users have echoed Chan Myae Khine’s point, writing comments such as “Regardless of religion, this is totally bullshit.. I mean.. I’m a Buddhism [sic] but this is really unacceptable,” as well as asking if the same kind of action would’ve been taken if the guilty party in question was conducting Buddhist prayer services.

It’s unclear exactly what religion Saw Paw Wa Htoo was practicing; some people have guessed in the comments that it’s a Christian household.

This is just one of the latest examples in a series of acts of religious intolerance across Yangon in recent weeks. Last month, local authorities sealed off two Islamic religious schools in Thaketa after a crowd of Buddhist nationalists gathered in front of one of them, claiming that prayers were being conducted within the school and thereby breaching a community agreement. Last week, a similar mob rallied in front of an apartment in Mingala Taungnyunt to hunt for ‘illegal’ Rohingya Muslims that they claimed were being housed in the residence; one person was injured.

The distribution of a letter such as this further suggests that local authorities are increasingly giving in to outside objections that denounce the worship of any religion that’s not Buddhism. As one user commented, “It’s not about noise pollution. It’s about paranoia and religious exclusivism.”