Posted on 02/09/2016 2:26:02 PM PST by nickcarraway
Bangkok-based Buddhist monk Maha Aphichat is among a growing group of Thai monks who feel their religion is under threat from Islam.
Anti-Islamic sentiment is brewing in Thailand, spurred-on by Buddhist monks who feel that their religion is under threat from Islam.
This fear mongering has been exacerbated by the ongoing political conflict within Thai Buddhism, the 12-year-old armed-insurgency in Thailandâs deep south, and the growing influence of Buddhist radicals in neighboring Myanmar.
Bangkok-based Buddhist monk Maha Aphichat is unafraid of speaking his mind. The 30-year-old gained notoriety last October, after he urged Thai Buddhists on social media to burn down a mosque for every monk killed in the country's Malay-Muslim dominated south.
An insurgency that has raged for more than 12 years there has killed almost 20 Buddhist monks and injured many more.
âI posted that message for psychological effect,â said Aphichat. âI want to tell Muslims to stop killing us. We can no longer tolerate this. If more Buddhists and monks are killed then we will retaliate. Our retaliation will not just be in the south, but against Muslims across the country.
Although no mosque has been set alight yet, anti-Islamic sentiment has gained traction online. And it is via social media that Aphichat has spread his message of hostility.
He has used local conflicts to further foment religious tensions, such as the Muslim communityâs rejection to the building of a Buddhist Park in Pattani in January and more recently, Buddhist monks' opposition to the setting up of a halal food industry in Chiang Mai.
Aphichat's methods are perhaps unsurprising. Ha has cited Myanmar's firebrand monk Ashin Wirathu - and his anti-Muslim teachings - as a model for safeguarding Buddhism in Thailand.
âThe doves (monks) cannot help us deal with this threat, like in the south, but the hawks can,â said Aphichat. âThat's whatâs happening in Myanmar: I'm applying Wirathuâs way in Thailand.â
NO OBVIOUS BACKING FROM THAI GOVERNMENT
Some experts say the different political contexts of Thailand and Myanmar have so far prevented this form of fear mongering from causing any sectarian conflict.
The reason being that in Myanmar, part of the former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party appeared to have supported Wirathu. Whereas Aphichat has no obvious backing from the Thai Government.
But they warn that the inaction of Thai authorities to address the issue could lead to more problems in the future.
âAphichatâs way of thinking reflects the kind of thinking that exists at a certain level of the Thai Buddhist Sangha and community,â said Somrit Luechai, an independent Southeast Asian academic. âThis framework is dangerous because even if Aphichat stops and leaves the scene, there may be others who will step into his role.â
Buddhists and Muslims in Thailand have lived together peacefully for centuries. And experts have said that the growing anti-Islamic sentiment only represents a small minority within the Thai Buddhist community.
In response, religious leaders here are promoting interfaith dialogue and a greater cultural understanding between different religions.
âThe action of one person or small group of people may create a negative image for the whole,â said Santi Sue-saming, Senior Advisory Committee Head, Office of the Shaykh al-Islam Thailand. âTherefore it is vital for all of us to understand religious diversity in our society. If we don't, then there will be problems.â
More than 93 per cent of Thailandâs population are Buddhists, compared to about six per cent, who are Muslim.
Islam is at war with every other religion it encounters.
Better than burning themselves.
When you get even the Buddhists pissed at you, that’s saying something!
Lived there...beautiful land adn people...but like everywhere else a muslim appear there is a conflict. They think where ever they squat they deserve to live. Now they beginning to show a major presence in Bangkok and other places through out Thailand. They have killed men women and child no matter. Thais need to stand up to them and fight. Sounds like a good start with the new monk on the scene
No bias there. If you don't accept being murdered by psychopathic lunatics you're anti-muslim.
>Islam is at war with every other religion it encounters.
islam is at war with anyone that does not follow their evil and complete nonsense death cult. One does not need to follow any Faith belief system to know islam must be destroyed.
Agnostic and Believers unite against the cult of islam.
dee maak maak ! khao kit tuuk drong ! Ching ching , Islam pben satsana lok chit
Not true. Malay Muslims, running their own petty fiefdoms and Rajs from the Maluccas to Andaman islands have been war with everyone around them forever.
There's no mention of the foreign jihadi influence in Thailand's southern provinces either.
Anti-muslim = anti-islam
islam = normalization of sinful or criminal actions
Push them back to their home sh*tholes.
Keep them there.
According to the author ‘Panu Wongcha-um’, the monk is guilty of FEAR MONGERING. Not what I would call it...
ROP bkmk
Served in Thailand. Those people are crazy! The Mooslums have met their match!
I’m OK with this..,
I remember a liberal telling me Muslim violence is a response to Western aggression. I asked what the Buddhist school teachers beheaded in Thailand for teaching Muslim girls about other faiths or secular science did to get killed, and the person STILL tried to say it was the West’s fault.
But the Muslim invasion of India killing 50-100 million - because nearly no one there was even a “People of the Book” for dhimmi status was well before Europe was very advanced.
If you condemn murder you condemn Mohammad.
If you condemn thievery you condemn Mohammed.
If you condemn rape you condemn Mohammad.
If you condemn pedophilia you condemn Mohammed.
If you condemn terrorism you condemn Mohammad.
If you condemn Mohammad you condemn Islam.
Don’t back down, brother ! You’re fighting Satan.
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