Western Myanmar - Myanmar (Burma) - page 616

Dos & Don'ts
» Do remove shoes on entering a Buddhist site or home.
» Do dress respectfully: no shorts, short skirts or exposed shoulders.
» Don''t touch somebody on the head (including a child).
» Don''t pose with or sit on Buddha images.
» Don''t point your feet at anyone or anything - apologise if you accidentally
brush someone with your foot.
» Don''t speak politics with locals unless they raise the subject first.
» Do ask before you photograph anyone.
Buddhists vs Muslims
Obama's words fly in the face of the rise in the local Buddhist fundamentalist movement
969, led by Ashin Wirathu, a radical Buddhist monk. Stickers sporting the 969 logo are
now ubiquitous across the nation; the numbers symbolise the virtues of Buddha,
Buddhist practices and the Buddhist community. Among other things, 969 calls for a
boycott of Muslim-owned businesses and restrictions on marriages between Muslims and
Buddhists.
Such is the respect accorded to monks in Myanmar - even radical ones such as
Wirathu, who was jailed under the military regime for inciting hatred - that when Time
published a story about the Mandalay-based preacher under the headline 'The Face of
Buddhist Terror' in July 2013, that edition of the magazine was banned by the govern-
ment. Among the few locals to speak out publicly against the violence and preaching of
hate towards Muslims are members of No U Turn, a popular punk rock band.
In September 2013 Buddhist versus Muslim mob violence spread down the Rakhine
coast to Thandwe, beside the country's prime beach resort Ngapali. The following month
the International Crisis Group ( www.crisisgroup.org ) released a report stating that 'un-
less there is an effective government response and change in societal attitudes, violence
against Myanmar's Muslim communities could spread.'