The first Muslim gathering of its kind to be held in Yangon in almost 70 years has been cancelled after Myanmar’s government said the event could cause instability.
The Union Muslims Nationwide Conference, scheduled to be held on May 23 in Thanlyin, was intended to voice opposition to religious extremism and violence and maintain social harmony, members of the organising committee told The Irrawaddy.
But plans for the gathering, originally planned for September 2014 but postponed after township authorities also refused permission, were scrapped after the national government sent a rejection letter.
Organisers had compared the conference to an event organised in 1946 in central Myanmar by U Razak, chairman of the Burma Muslim Congress and one of the government ministers assassinated alongside general Aung San.
The cancellation comes amid rising nationalism and tensions between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Myanmar. More than 250 people have been killed in inter-communal violence since 2012.
“The sensitive situation of the country is not suitable yet for such a conference, where disagreements and conflicts could occur and affect the country’s peace and stability as a consequence,” Kyaw Win Oo, an administrative officer for the city’s Southern District, told The Irrawaddy.
The influential Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, commonly known as Ma Ba Tha, had been vocally opposed to the gathering and specifically the use of the word ‘union’ to include Muslims.
“The country is a Buddhist country so the Muslim conference must not be allowed. If the conference were to be held, there would be violence and it would affect the peace and stability of the country, which is why the association strongly opposes it,” read the statement.
When asked by The Irrawaddy whether the government had been influenced by the nationalist group, Kyaw Win Oo said he had not read the statements.
Photo: Wikicommons/ McKay Savage
