Myanmar’s highest Buddhist body on Monday declared a hardline monk organization an illegal association and ordered the nationwide removal of all its signage, two weeks after its members blasted the civilian-led government at the group’s annual meeting, the country’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture said. The 47-member Sangha Maha Nayaka (Mahana), a government-appointed council […]
Facebook News: Update on Myanmar Hate Speech
August 16, 2018 by
By Sara Su, Facebook Product Manager, 15 August 2018 We have a responsibility to fight abuse on Facebook. This is especially true in countries like Myanmar where many people are using the internet for the first time and social media can be used to spread hate and fuel tension on the ground. The ethnic violence […]
Facebook ‘ban’ of anti-Muslim slur sparks Myanmar outcry
June 1, 2017 by
Myanmar netizens were in an uproar on Monday after Facebook seemingly banned people from posting the word “kalar,” often used as a slur against Muslims, at a time of rising Islamophobia in the country. Facebook is under global pressure to clamp down on hate speech, violent threats or deliberately misleading information on their platform — […]
Deadly secret: The illegal abortions killing Myanmar’s women
May 8, 2017 by
Yangon, May 2 (AFP) Thiri’s heart started pounding and her whole body shook after she swallowed the final dose of pills that would end her unwanted pregnancy in a Yangon hotel. Her boyfriend had abandoned her after finding out she was pregnant — a familiar story in Myanmar, where many consider women “ruined” if they […]
Myanmar’s Radical Buddhist Group Gets Rebuked
July 26, 2016 by
Myanmar’s nationalist Buddhist group known as The Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion (Ma Ba Tha) has suddenly found itself losing support from government officials and the online community. First, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein boldly declared in public that Ma Ba Tha is “unnecessary and redundant” since there is […]
Myanmar is cracking down on Buddhist extremism directed at Muslims
July 22, 2016 by
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar is cracking down on Buddhist extremism, aiming to curb ethnic and religious tension that saw two mosques destroyed and scores of Muslim residents fleeing their villages in recent weeks. Nobel Peace Prize winner and government leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under criticism from human rights activists and lawyers for […]
Hardline Myanmar monk blasts ‘dictator’ Aung San Suu Kyi
July 18, 2016 by
YANGON: A firebrand monk slammed Aung San Suu Kyi as a “dictator”on Wednesday (Jul 13), accusing Myanmar’s civilian-led government of trying to destroy an ultra-nationalist Buddhist group blamed for a surge in sectarian violence across the country. The attack came after the body representing Myanmar’s top monks distanced itself from the hardline Ma Ba Tha […]
Myanmar minister warns nationalists to end hate speech
July 15, 2016 by
YANGON: Myanmar’s minister for religion on Thursday (Jul 14) warned ultra-nationalist monks to avoid hate speech, in a rare government rebuke to Buddhist hardliners behind bilious anti-Muslim rhetoric. The warning came after a firebrand monk from the Ma Ba Tha movement on Wednesday decried Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a “dictator” intent […]
Myanmar’s post-election landscape reshaped by Suu Kyi victory
November 11, 2015 by
While supporters of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi hit the streets to celebrate an apparent landslide win for her party in Sunday’s election, a dazed former general sat at home licking his wounds. Veteran politician Htay Oo, acting chief of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), lost his seat in the […]
