Religious Minorities in Myanmar

The great majority of the Myanmar’s population follows Theravada Buddhism. However, there are minorities of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc.

There was governmental preference in practice (although not in law) for non-Buddhists during the period of British colonial rule and Buddhists since independence of Myanmar. These mostly led to social tensions between the Buddhist majority and the Christian and Muslim minorities.

In Myanmar, the non-Buddhists are discriminated against in the public sector. Thus far, a non-Buddhist brigadier general served in the Government at ministerial level and is the only non-Buddhist known to have held flag rank in the armed forces during the 1990’s.

The Muslims are discouraged by the Government from entering military service. Christian or Muslim military officers who aspire to promote beyond middle ranks are encouraged to convert to Buddhism.

Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a SPDC provided the financial support for the mass organization distributed anti-Islamic booklets throughout the country.

Members of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Arakan State, on the Myanmar’s western coast, continue to experience strict legal, monetary, and communal discrimination. It is required by Myanmar’s highly restrictive citizenship law that citizenship was given to those whose ancestors live on grounds at the start of the British colonial rule. Hence, citizenship status was not permitted to most Rohingyas who lived on land that their ancestors did not reside at the start of the British colonial rule.

In addition, because the Myanmar Government reserves secondary education for citizens only, Rohingya do not have access to state run schools beyond primary education, and are unable to obtain most civil service positions.

In March 1999 and April 2000, the Government forcibly relocated about 200 Buddhist slum dwellers from Dagon Township in Rangoon to Arakan State. This firstly gotten rid of slums in Rangoon, and secondly increased the population of Buddhist citizens in Arakan State. During the year in Rakhine State, the Government opened several "model villages" for Buddhist families displaced from other areas. The Rohingyas already residing in the area had their land taken away with no payment and were forced to participate in construction and maintenance. In addition, they were forced over and over again to build Buddhist pagodas for the new arrivals.

Since 1994, when the pro-government DKBA was organized, there has been armed conflict between the DKBA and the Christian-led KNU. This armed conflict had strong religious overtones. During the mid-1990's, reports were that it was common DKBA practice to torment Christian villagers and kill them if they refused to convert to Buddhism. After the settling down of DKBA to administering the regions that it had taken control of, the DKBA treatment of Christians improved significantly.