Vile destructionists and the sacred tooth. (desecration of
revered Buddhist shrine used as propaganda tool by Myanmar
government: reprinted from New Light of Myanmar, Jan. 5, 1997)

Kaytu Nilar

World Press Review
Vol.44 No.3
March 1997
p.48

COPYRIGHT @ 1997 Stanley Foundation

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            * Myanmar's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) 
            has recently cracked down hard on the democratic opposition movement 
            led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the 
            heroines of our September cover story, "Taking on the Tyrants" When 
            a bomb exploded in December in Yangon at a Buddhist shrine housing a 
            particularly sacred relic, reports the independent "Nation" of 
            Bangkok, the culprits may have been guerrillas from an ethnic 
            minority group--but an outraged SLORC arrested members of Suu Kyi's 
            opposition National League for Democracy and of the Communist Party. 
            This article from SLORC's "New Light of Myanmar" is a classic 
            attempt by a repressive regime to contrast its own supposed 
            benevolence with the mad heresy of its political opponents. 
            Everyone who heard the news was shocked and heartbroken. The people 
            of Myanmar abhor the terrorism of internal and external 
            destructionists, who have not yet ended their brutal and atrocious 
            bestial acts. Engulfed with power mania, they attempted to destroy 
            the Lord Buddha's Tooth Relic [a fragment of the founder's 
            tooth--WPR]. There will be no place to go but hell for those evil 
            destructionists who dare to tear the hearts of the people paying 
            homage to the Lord Buddha's Tooth Relic. 
            The destructionists' political aim is to destroy the state, bring 
            down the State Law and Order Restoration Council, and wrest power 
            for their cohorts. To achieve this goal, they dare to destroy the 
            race, language, and religion; they dare to revile the Lord Buddha in 
            their utterances; they do not have the sense to understand and 
            realize the Lord Buddha's teachings. While they are engulfed with 
            power mania, the destructionists have committed all sorts of 
            brutalities. 
            That is why a bomb explosion plotted by the destructionists occurred 
            in the shadows south of two lion statues at Kaba Aye Pagoda in 
            Yangon on December 25. Two hours later, another explosion occurred 
            in a vase holding offerings of flowers while a large number of 
            pilgrims were paying reverence to the Sacred Tooth Relic in Maha 
            Pasana Cave. As a result of the explosion, five people were 
            killed--including two security guards and a Red Cross staffer--and 
            17 were injured. 
            With deep generosity, SLORC conveyed the Lord Buddha's Tooth Relic 
            from the People's Republic of China to Myanmar so as to enable 
            Buddhist devotees to revere it. Moreover, SLORC has arranged to 
            convey the Sacred Tooth Relic around the country for public 
            reverence. With the patronage of the government and with donations 
            contributed by the public, the Tooth Relic Pagodas have been built 
            in Myanmar to enshrine the Sacred Tooth Relic. 
            While the people in the country were praying and rejoicing at the 
            government's meritorious missionary tasks, those power-crazy, 
            irrational beings, the destructionists--overwhelmed with greed, 
            anger, and delusion like vile animals--planned to damage the Sacred 
            Tooth Relic. However, no damage was caused to the Lord Buddha's 
            Tooth Relic, and it is most exhilarating to see it as serene as 
            before. That five people were killed paying homage to the Sacred 
            Tooth Relic or closely safeguarding it has become a black mark in 
            the history of Buddhism. 
            In spite of these destructive acts, the pure generosity and 
            reverence of Buddhist devotees is firmly and extensively growing. 
            The destiny of the external imperialists and internal henchmen 
            lacking religious faith and values who attempted to damage the Lord 
            Buddha's Tooth Relic will be the worst of all in the present 
            existence and in life after death. Accursed by the people of Myanmar 
            in the present world, they will also suffer in hell in their next 
            existence. 
            Those who do not want a China-Myanmar friendship are awaiting an 
            opportunity to disrupt the friendly relations between the two 
            countries. There are internal and external elements who, out of 
            their strong desire to seize power, are prepared to turn the entire 
            nation into an inferno. Out of those acts of destruction, the 
            attempt to destroy the Sacred Tooth Relic by heretics or the 
            so-called human beings who have repeatedly committed offenses will 
            remain a black mark that can never be erased. The inhuman 
            destructionists who committed such sacrilegious acts have no future.