Group the bomber. The young monk settled here because of the chins religion they are mainly christian and is a missionary of the Buddhist Monks living here are just like the old christian missionaries and the spearhead of an end bishes Expansion Plan that has been supported by the military government since the ninetys. A moment i dont want to give them up. When i came here the villages gave me a dog called rice to eat it was almost an end of all. They didnt visit me so i was alone most of the time. I thought a lot about the purpose of my mission at that time. All i had left in my learning this was meditation and i started thinking about the strategy i could use to get people to the monastery and. Then you know. Then i had an idea that i could go to the city and buy sweets to give to the children in the village. After that more and more parents and other people came to the monastery. Thats how i was able to win the villages over and convert them. Converting people is a big challenge for the monks in this village eighty percent of the residents are catholics or baptists to win them over the monks offer whats most sorely lacking here access to education. We were going down and. In these remote areas most families dont have the money to send their children to school. Going to thats why i turn to the free religious schools in mandalay and rangoon so the children can attend a secondary school. But i dont know. I mean that theyre going to. Hear from. In these villages where everything is lacking the monks sometimes do a lot but they always expect something in return this is the real aim of their mission the comprehensive spread of buddhism in all its fullness. Spreading buddhism in a christian region is a long process thats based largely on symbols thats why the construction of pagodas monasteries and other religious sites is the missionaries most important work but winning the peoples hearts and minds is much harder. Who are lay is one of the few monks in the region whos fluent in chin. Close links with the villagers forms the basis of his mission strategy. Over the years who war lay has found the place he had hoped for in the chin villages of rock in state. He doesnt just have a goda a Monastic School and several places of worship. He has also managed to send seven hundred fifty children to religious schools in the cities. Who were lay works for the department for the promotion and propagation of such santa all burmese monks are members of this institution which was founded in the early ninetys. It comes under the auspices of the ministry of religious affairs and culture and is based in rangoon or lays master the venerable mara is its president he runs six hundred missions throughout the country. On the twenty seventh of march we organize a ceremony for the conversion to buddhism during which donations for an order nation room were collected in the village of. You have to look after them well otherwise theyll convert to buddhism today but well become christians again in three days time. Though i doubt there boy. But the converted the conversion ceremonies are often just the. We started in two thousand and eleven and the converts didnt revert to christianity the people on the mountain and Border Regions will convert to get something but as soon as we dont have anything left to give them theyll switch religions again. We give them an education to promote our religion its good to give them an education whether they convert or not education can improve their thinking and their conduct some places where the schools only teach in chinese or quranic language they can learn burmese and now monastic scholars are. Not official language they need to know it. You can say that our missions only benefit the buddhist religion and. They also promote peace and development in this region. If buddhism could reach the hearts of people and there would be no war. Everyone would live in peace. Buddhism as a bringer of peace in the eyes of the monks theres no doubt about it but the army has a very different again it sees the buddhist missionary zeal as an effective tool to expand burma is rule over the countrys many ethnic minorities. Thats why the army started funding this missionary work in the early ninetys it wants to push forward with birth occasion which it wants to use to consolidate its power over the minorities. One hundred thirty five officially recognized ethnic groups with around one hundred languages and dialects were arbitrarily grouped together as one country. Is a mix of peoples alongside the Largest Ethnic Group the bomb are people in mar is home to the shan the current the chin the rock scene and a large number of others particularly in the Border Regions. Ever since its independence in one thousand nine hundred forty eight the republic of the union of myanmar has seemed an impossible undertaking. Allentown two g. s father general and son a National Hero in the war for independence didnt live to see that he was assassinated. After that the country went through a series of rebellions and guerrilla wars that were put down with increasing bloodshed. And. The rise of social networks has given new war lays missionary work a new dimension he writes about the events hes hosting and has no trouble finding donors who are willing to pay for a new buddha statues and monasteries burmas occasion is progressing ever more rapidly in the south of rockin state but a few dozen kilometers further north its long ground to a standstill. Thanks these mountains hide an entire region that has been sealed off by the army its a no go zone for foreigners around a million muslims in this region bordering bangladesh a currently facing unparalleled persecution. The rowan jo was formerly a berm maize ethnic group but are now stateless having been struck off the list of ethnic groups by law in one thousand nine hundred eighty two. Even though they have lived in rocking for centuries they are now seen as Illegal Immigrants from bangladesh. Their situation abruptly worsened in two thousand and twelve when buddhists in the state attacked them after monks had spread false rumors about rapes on social media. The situation quickly escalated their rowing joe were driven out of the towns and their villages were burned down this was the start of a mass exodus to neighboring countries a tragedy for the rowing. Nationalist organizations a Buddhist Monks have been behind these events these are. Openly anti muslim movements have played a big part in the violence its they who have been fueling the hatred especially via social media since then buddhist nationalism has played a central role in man mahers political life. To cite tara is the founder of a particularly active group of monks. Our organizations called the patriotic myanma monks union our president is we are not dharma and i. And the secretary. Major and we founded this organization to prevent muslims from invading our country. And forcing their religion upon us. To you know i dont know i will. Do it was an awful. Lot of i know. I. Dont like them as you im scared of the threat to the buddhist religion and aa culture. Since other religions have been coming into our country through immigration weve been unable to preserve our culture and am well. Aware that you know were losing our identity and how did you know youre doing you know. I want to protect our culture you know in my idiom. Should have only. Although it only consists of around one hundred activists to cite as group plays an Important Role in burmas nationalism particularly thanks to spectacular events that play effectively in the media. The only. Way the. You know the what. The activists monks are demonstrating in the center of rangoon against a rowing whom they call bengalis in myanmar their role into are denied the right to give themselves a name yet theyre even denied classification as an ethnic group they are the target of extreme hatred. Lawyer les want to have parts of wrecking it for themselves to found a role in just state the problem. As soon as dave got their hands on and. Theyll want the whole country pays you painted. Governess you know i know youre going to be modeled after. The nationalist groups prejudices meet little resistance among the burmese population fear of migrants and radical islamism has merged with an older islamophobia deeply rooted in the minds of non muslim burmese people. The. The. The. The now. Here we demonstrate peacefully we dont want to break the law please remain peaceful illegal immigration remains illegal not solo. This week one of our own sons who cheez ministers dared to use the phrase muslims of rockiness in a speech. Although he did not explicitly mention the rowing his words implicitly suggested that they were an ethnic and religious group this is a great affront to the nationalist monks. According to a new report by the un high commissioner for human rights the bernese army is pursuing a policy of systematic murder torture and rape. Several n. G. O. S are using the term genocide. Mian maher is facing severe criticism from many governments and the International Community as a whole. All the more so since sound suchi hasnt as yet said or done anything to defend their own engine eleven Nobel Laureates have written an open letter to the Un Security Council voicing their concerns. Ill call it if it doesnt all the problems in the country have been caused by the military. But the responsibilities been laid at the current governments. The me is responsible for crime the civil wars and the condition of the muslim. Nevertheless people blame im son to chinese government. But our own son tucci is really the countrys head of state only in name according to the constitution she herself had a hand in writing the military has held on to some of its power it still has a quarter of all seats in parliament and the important interior and defense ministers are also Army Officers so the military alone is actually making all the decisions about how to proceed in iraq in. Our own sons to cheese hands tied or if she sacrificed in the muslims as part of an arrangement with the generals in exchange for her new democracy its hard to say. But even if she wanted to protect the rowing shed still have to confront the nationalist monks she stuck between the generals and religious extremists like to side. Yeah. Yeah. Since two thousand and twelve we founded a position that is contrary to our own sons who cheese. I want to go a law was passed to protect the race and religion and that was necessary because muslims reproduce quickly. The thirty three and now d. Members of parliament voted against it and on sons who didnt show up in parliament at all that day allegedly because she was sick. The. The protection of race and religion thats the purpose of the two thousand and fifteen law limiting into religious marriages and targeting the countrys five percent Muslim Population by banning polygamy it was a great