The leader of an influential and controversial Buddhist lobby group has called for the people of Rakhine state to govern themselves in order to prevent a Muslim “occupation”, according to a report by Channel News Asia on 31 October.
Mr Nan Da Ba Tha, the state chairman of Ma Ba Tha - or Patriotic Association of Myanmar - said the elections on 8November will be critical in ensuring Rakhine preserves its proper Buddhist faith and enforces the laws of the land, something he believed the central Government had failed to do.
He also blamed long-running divisions in the region on “propaganda-spreading Bengalis” and said the spread of Islam in the region was a trend that needed to be stopped. “The Bengalis want to take this land on a permanent basis for generations to come,” he said.
Ma Ba Tha is a hard-line nationalist movement whose best known member is Ashin Wirathu, a Mandalay-based monk who has been labelled the “Burmese Bin Laden” and the “face of Buddhist terror” by international media.