Myanmar tearing down illegally built religious spaces

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

Myanmar’s government is tackling the growing number of religious buildings constructed without official permission or on state-owned land across the country, according to an official Thursday.

Myint Zaw Win, director of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, told Anadolu Agency that the ministry, with the help of concerned ministries and local authorities, has been collecting data on illegally built religious spaces such as monasteries, mosques, madrasas and churches.

“We are removing or demolishing the religious structures that were built without permission,” said Myint Zaw Win.

Though a detailed number of such buildings was not available, he said most are Buddhist monasteries in Yangon, the country’s former capital, and mosques and Islamic madrasas in the troubled western state of Rakhine -- home to around 1.2 million stateless Rohingya Muslims.

He cited an initial survey as showing that 185 out of more than 6,000 monasteries in Yangon were built illegally.

“We are asking the Sangha committee first to handle those monasteries because the committee is responsible for the cases,” he said, referring to the State Sangha Mahayanaka Committee led by the most senior Buddhist monks in Myanmar.

“Otherwise the government will have to do it,” he said by phone. “All religions must follow the rules and regulations of the country.”

The comments came two days after a senior government official in Rakhine pledged to tear down all illegally constructed buildings including mosques and Muslim religious schools in two townships where Muslims account for the majority.

The statement led to concern among residents, with Muslim leaders indicating that such moves could create unnecessary tensions between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in the state, where communal violence since 2012 has left nearly 100 people dead and around 140,000 displaced -- most of them Rohingya.

More than 3,000 structures -- including 12 mosques and 35 madrasas -- in Maugndaw and Buthidaung townships in Rakine’s north are facing demolition, the local Voice Daily newspaper reported Wednesday citing Rakhine’s security and border affairs minister.

“We are working to bring down the mosques and other buildings constructed without permission in accordance with the law,” it quoted Col. Htein Linn as saying during a meeting Tuesday with residents in state capital Sittwe.

He said Rakhine’s government would issue an official announcement in the near future with a time set for the demolition.

“It’s a must to crack down on the growing illegal buildings,” added Htein Linn.

According to data from the Islamic Religious Affairs Council in Myanmar, the country has a total of 2,266 mosques and 759 madrasas.

Rakhine is home to the most Muslim religious structures with 1,238 mosques and 105 madrasas.

In the past year, Myanmar has also witnessed attempts by hardline Buddhist groups to build religious structures near mosques and churches.

In April, the country's official Muslim body, the Islamic Religious Affairs Council Myanmar, called for calm after a militia-style monk and his disciples -- whom it accused of trying to incite violence -- built stupas near a mosque and church in Karen state.