Unfortunately, Prabowo can’t accept his loss. Prabowo confirming all the very worst assumptions about him and talk about patriotism. Congratulate your opponent and you will gain respect.
Gee, if I was Buddhist Sinhalese and knew that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam) planned to assassinate five Sri Lankan Prime Ministers, I guess I would be a little upset, especially when my popular Leader, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, barely survived as assassination attempt, losing an eye, in the “process”. If I were a Buddhist Tibetan, I would likely take umbrage at China’s endless attempts to usurp my land and culture. If I were a Buddhist Thai in Hat Yai, I might not want to have my head and my temple blow up by a Malay Pattani separatist.
As a Buddhist ethnic Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia, I might find the creeping Islamisation of society and the “Pendatang” treatment of my relatives, third generation Malaysia or Indonesians, rather insulting. With such “good” treatment of Buddhist, where DO they find the time to hijack airplanes, blow up buildings, stone women, amputate hands, and create Buddhist-only nations ?
If this analysis were true, the opposition factions in parliament (led by Prabowo) could block every single bill by the (expected) incoming Jokowi administration leading to completely non-effective governance.
The civil courts and the Shari’ah courts in Malaysia are of very low quality. Federal judges are hampered by poor Socratic thinking and undue political influence. Shari’ah judges are impeded by zealous interpretations of the Quran and Islamic jurisprudence, in many instances, not even understanding, what they are taking about. The all-too-frequent shuttling of false conversion cases back and forth between both courts, is indicative of the politicised nature of both legal systems, and the lack of judicial knowledge and professionalism to handle such cases. We have seen the same lack of professionalism in the “Allah” issue, and the abuse of legal authority in the egregious and surrealistic trial of Kassim Ahmad, indicted for heresy, on the basis of a Fatwa, issued in a Shari’ah court in a State (Terengganu) he has never lived in; not to mention, a Fatwa edict that is geographically bounded, when that is completely at odds with the Islamic meaning of Fatwa. Were that the case, Salman Rushdie would only be afraid to return to India, rather than have constant fear everywhere, which (sadly) is consistent with a genuine Fatwa. We have the federal courts passing on issues, simply because they lack the courage to issue judgments that may offend the government or various interest groups. The Malaysian judiciary, both civil and Islamic, is not primarily corrupted by money and perks, though these are not unknown to them, they are corrupted by poor legal training, ignorance of the Malaysian Constitution, a stronger desire to take the path of lest resistance rather than the path of righteousness, and an interpretation of Quranic exegesis and Islamic legal traditions that is haphazard, personalised, misogynistic, and in many instances, just plain wrong. While the Malaysian Constitution may allow for such a dual legal system, which Malaysia has had for some time, the societal evidence of how this duality impacts the lives of Malaysians, on a daily basis, strongly suggests that having a dual legal
system in Malaysia, is much to the detriment of the nation and its citizens. Secularism and Islam, have never co-existed, side-by-side, in any Islamic nation, for an extensive period of time. Either the nation becomes secular (Turkey under Ataturk), or it becomes Islamic (all other Islamic nations). Turkey today, proves that secularism cannot last, and ultimately Islamic Law takes over. In Malaysia, the civil courts are weakening, as the Shari’ah courts gain in strength. Indonesia may prove to be the test case, as to whether it becomes the exception that proves the “rule”. Current evidence, in Indonesia, suggests that in time, Shari’ah
courts there as well, will increase in strength, relative to civil courts. At the moment, only autocratic Kazakhstan has a purely civil legal system, but that may change, once the ruling dictator dies or is removed from power. From Morocco to Indonesia, history has shown, that the legal duality between civil and Shari’ah courts, is not beneficial to society, and in fact, does not last.
dear lynnete, i tottally disagree with ur point of saying most sarawakian want sarawak to be an independent state. based on roughly reviews of sarawakian in social medias, i can see most of sarawakian desire to have their own government, to be separate from the federation of malaysia. even within my own network of sarawakian friends, my ex-schoolmates, college-mates, in social mesanging (whatsapp,wechat group etc), they all have the same desire supporting the kingdom of sarawak. how can u say most sarawak did not agree with separatism? i think, the older generation would also agree of this idea of having sarawak to be separated from the federation of malaysia.
Absolutely right. Although attracting a lot of votes, the article is selective in its comments and flawed on this particular “fact” as many others. The sheep have not noticed.
So, no one knows what the NCPO did re Legal Execution. You can’t comment (presumably because you don’t know) but you can use the silly voting system. I suppose you realise there are a few nominees who are pressing the unlike buttons multiple times. One person in particular. Come clean, New Mandala. Allow free speech
Why a rash of putting Buddhism on trial, while the real religion of intolerance IS Islam.
Mixing all different schools of Buddhism obliterate The Theravada Buddhism as the purest Buddhism of tolerance.
With examples of practitioners/martyrs abound who will sacrifice self just not to harm any living creature does call into question Mr Fuller association of Buddhism with violence.
The idiocy of ‘acquiring merits’ in Buddhism however can explain some simply human behavior.
If one see the Ne Win’s Pagoda, knowing the merit obtain might put him to a better “next cycle of life” it is not unusual for Buddhists to act in manners that relegate acquiring merits to much later rather than sooner. In between those periods anything does go.
Unlike Islam, It is not the Religion Mr Fuller, it is the Practitioners that make Buddhism look bad.
There must be a misunderstanding. If at all, a Buddhist prophecy would be the one dealing with Mettaya or Maitreya, which has nothing to do with Thailand. The prophecy referred to here might better be called the Chakri prophecy. This has two aspects:
1. Attributed to Rama I’s sister Narinthewi is the prophecy that the Chakri dynasty would last 150 years, which would be to 1932.
2. A prophecy concerning the kings of the dynasty. This is often discussed to mean that there will be nine kings of this dynasty (which is, compared to the dynasties of Ayudhya quite a lot!). This prophecy is attributed either to a monk, fortune tellers, or even to Rama I himself.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find a written version of it. Several years ago I saw a description. It does not say there will be only nine kings. In fact, the reigns of ten kings are described in a characterizing sentence. For the reign of Chulalongkorn it was said that parts of the body are removed. For Rama IX, if I remember right, it said “white birds gather”, interpreted as many farang enter into the country. The reign of the tenth king is described as harmony, civilization etc. Some interpret this as republic.
I suppose a gag applied from infancy is the most effective. And if invoking “law” is the only way to get at the knot, then i hope we have more lawyers whose intent is to loosen the knot and eventually untie the gag – this gag, made of words in molds, made of sweet promises, made of beautiful iron fences clandestinely draped around collective imagination, ever so slightly tightened every single day…
I apologize for not responding to you earlier, but I have been recuperating from dental surgery.
You ask some interesting questions, and it is a shame that the opportunity for a critical examination of social science methodology was squandered through Mr. Saxer’s choice to respond to his critics in an extremely belligerent manner. However, I will say this, I, like the vast majority of social science scholars in the Anglosphere and beyond, am an unrepentant postpositivist. As you might know, postpositivism argues that while knowledge can be gleaned from empirical observation, those observations always possess systematic bias through the researcher’s theoretical stance, background, values, etc. Therefore the scholarly process of review, publishing, and criticism is vital in dealing with these biases as each person has their own backgrounds and values thus as the sum of knowledge in a discipline grows, the effect of these biases regress to the mean.
Now, to be consistent, if many of these pieces are biased, are the writers not required to preface their work with disclaimers such as “I was a rape victim so therefore my…” or “My cousin was killed with a gun so that’s why…” How far does a person have to go to justify to others that a given piece of writing is valid?
My answer to you would be that the dominate conventions of academic work in the social sciences would require one to mention those experiences only if they have any bearing on the topic studied. So, a writer should upfront and honest about who he or she is and how that might limit the study.
As an example, I recently submitted a research proposal to my institution for a case study that I hope to begin in 2016. As the phenomenon occurs within a certain sector of higher education that I belong to, I listed in great detail how my participation in that sector has the potential to bias the results of my study and the steps I shall take in order to limit the effect of those biases. For this, I was singled out for praise by the provost of the university who stated that far from detracting from the robustness of my proposed study, my honest and forthright identification of the limitations shall only add to the integrity of my proposed study.
Another example can be found in the introduction to Finnish Lessons by Pasi Sahlberg, who spends a page and a half listing his deep involvement in the Finnish educational system and how such involvement, might bias his arguments in support of the Finnish model, they also bolster his arguments as he his arguing from a large level of familiarity and expertise with the subject.
As for your last question, I will address that in remarks directed to Mr. Saxer himself.
That is why Hinayana is called Theravada!
Buddha himself predicted that Buddhism would start to decay 2,500 years after his death and will disappear in another 2,500 years after that. True Buddhists should believe in this!
The recent problems in Burma are mainly racial. The Burmese are brainwashed into believing that dark-skinned Kalars (Indians) would contaminate their race and culture. Chinese are ok though! They should start changing the faces of the Buddha statues to make them look more Chinese, their new masters, Sinayana maybe?
It should also be noted that white people are called “Kalar phru” (white Indians) by Burmese. Indo-Aryans if you like and of course they “don’t get it” what it means to be a pure Buddhist. Richard Gere, who’s that? Dalai Lama hanging out with white kids OMG!
Burmese tend to forget that Buddha himself was a member of the Saka tribe which probably was Indo-Persian. Anyway everything, even religion, is about this primitive tribal + racial + ethnic rubbish. Burma hasn’t reached the age of “Enlightenment” yet (excuse the pun).
Like the difference between a highly learned political scientist and a usually barely literate politicians, a Buddhist scholar’s view could be very different form a “natural” or “native” Buddhist of any race with or without uncalled for “religious arrogance” plenty found at least among the Burmese and cultural background in all the Teravada version. That would paradoxically makes Dr Fuller at a disadvantage forever tallying up and analyzing.
At least as the traditional common people’s Buddhism goes in Burma, not learning even 0.1% of the Pali texts the likes of Dr Fuller would have gone through several times, there is simply no difference or animosity or conflict with Mahayana version or any other religion for that matter. It is inherently impossible to categorize people labelled as Buddhist and then further divide them into species. Because for traditional Burmese Buddhists, who by way could not careless what the Sri Lankans think or anybody for that matter, attaining the wisdom is the one and only aim. Ignorance (A-weik-zar) started it all and trying to seek “pyin-nyar” to realize it the aim.
Here that true effort is totally oblivious of all these Pagoda’s (which were supposed to be not to be build by Buddha himself- here it is similar to Salafist Islam belief)), donations, large congregations and festivals, etc., etc. are simply “human” version of Buddhist tradition which Dr Fuller might be more interested in.
In true Buddhism, one is busy realizing one’s own ignorance, there is simply no time to think about hating or recognizing or doing anything worldly with any other being, human or otherwise, let alone make a big deal out of particular species of human or his or her belief.
But in the popular Buddhism which can be studied and write books about and all that, again for the Burmese Buddhists, Mahayana is not hated or resented or any thing. It is simply not there. Buddhism being a thought and effort of trying to understanding self, there is no god or supreme being or any higher power. So this Dalai Lama simply means nothing. Of course n the worldly side, Dalai Lama is simply a consummate invention using movies stars, famous political leaders, famous prizes, etc., for use by people who invent him thoroughly shrouded in murky controversy. http://www.westernshugdensociety.org/files/A_Great_Deception_2011-08.pdf
It is simply “western” calculation that if the Burmese Buddhists cannot get on with other Buddhists, they must get more problems with other religions. As as far as “they” are concerned, there is no god or superior being or any political connection in the religion.
This most disturbing disastrous scene we see now in Burma is simple product of social ignorance and irrational “humanly” fear cynically used and stoked and incited by well organised truly evil and ruthless masterminds in and out of the country. And it is more of a social issue rather than religious issue which is just a label usurped.
The hidden hand is probably Chinese. Most of these junta guys and their cronies are heavily bribed by Chinese. You can find the money stashed away in Singaporean banks.
China is successfully countering the futile attempt by the US to use Suu Kyi as a pivot to contain the Chinese invasion and exploitation of Burma. Burma is very important to China, geo-strategically, for natural resources and for Chinese settlements. China is using the Buddhist card and racial prejudices of the population to counter Western influence. Using the Muslims as scapegoats is actually dangerous for China, since the China vs Muslim extremists might be the next conflict. Besides, China has its own problems with Falun Gong and Tibetan buddhist monks.
There are still too many Chinese stooges “tayoke pu hsein yo:” in Burma.
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Prabowo Subianto: vote for me, but just the once
Unfortunately, Prabowo can’t accept his loss. Prabowo confirming all the very worst assumptions about him and talk about patriotism. Congratulate your opponent and you will gain respect.
The Grand Finale
Did what exactly ?
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
Anyway everything, even religion, is about this primitive tribal + racial + ethnic rubbish quote:Tocharian
And it is more of a social issue rather than religious issue which is just a label usurped.
quote: Ohn
Enough said!! it is about mortal intolerance, tribalism, etc
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
Gee, if I was Buddhist Sinhalese and knew that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam) planned to assassinate five Sri Lankan Prime Ministers, I guess I would be a little upset, especially when my popular Leader, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, barely survived as assassination attempt, losing an eye, in the “process”. If I were a Buddhist Tibetan, I would likely take umbrage at China’s endless attempts to usurp my land and culture. If I were a Buddhist Thai in Hat Yai, I might not want to have my head and my temple blow up by a Malay Pattani separatist.
As a Buddhist ethnic Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia, I might find the creeping Islamisation of society and the “Pendatang” treatment of my relatives, third generation Malaysia or Indonesians, rather insulting. With such “good” treatment of Buddhist, where DO they find the time to hijack airplanes, blow up buildings, stone women, amputate hands, and create Buddhist-only nations ?
House of Cards Part 2
If this analysis were true, the opposition factions in parliament (led by Prabowo) could block every single bill by the (expected) incoming Jokowi administration leading to completely non-effective governance.
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
Buddhism does not say ” you must follow this or we slice your throats” Islam seem to have that as a requirement! Just saying..
Law and its discontent in Malaysia
The civil courts and the Shari’ah courts in Malaysia are of very low quality. Federal judges are hampered by poor Socratic thinking and undue political influence. Shari’ah judges are impeded by zealous interpretations of the Quran and Islamic jurisprudence, in many instances, not even understanding, what they are taking about. The all-too-frequent shuttling of false conversion cases back and forth between both courts, is indicative of the politicised nature of both legal systems, and the lack of judicial knowledge and professionalism to handle such cases. We have seen the same lack of professionalism in the “Allah” issue, and the abuse of legal authority in the egregious and surrealistic trial of Kassim Ahmad, indicted for heresy, on the basis of a Fatwa, issued in a Shari’ah court in a State (Terengganu) he has never lived in; not to mention, a Fatwa edict that is geographically bounded, when that is completely at odds with the Islamic meaning of Fatwa. Were that the case, Salman Rushdie would only be afraid to return to India, rather than have constant fear everywhere, which (sadly) is consistent with a genuine Fatwa. We have the federal courts passing on issues, simply because they lack the courage to issue judgments that may offend the government or various interest groups. The Malaysian judiciary, both civil and Islamic, is not primarily corrupted by money and perks, though these are not unknown to them, they are corrupted by poor legal training, ignorance of the Malaysian Constitution, a stronger desire to take the path of lest resistance rather than the path of righteousness, and an interpretation of Quranic exegesis and Islamic legal traditions that is haphazard, personalised, misogynistic, and in many instances, just plain wrong. While the Malaysian Constitution may allow for such a dual legal system, which Malaysia has had for some time, the societal evidence of how this duality impacts the lives of Malaysians, on a daily basis, strongly suggests that having a dual legal
system in Malaysia, is much to the detriment of the nation and its citizens. Secularism and Islam, have never co-existed, side-by-side, in any Islamic nation, for an extensive period of time. Either the nation becomes secular (Turkey under Ataturk), or it becomes Islamic (all other Islamic nations). Turkey today, proves that secularism cannot last, and ultimately Islamic Law takes over. In Malaysia, the civil courts are weakening, as the Shari’ah courts gain in strength. Indonesia may prove to be the test case, as to whether it becomes the exception that proves the “rule”. Current evidence, in Indonesia, suggests that in time, Shari’ah
courts there as well, will increase in strength, relative to civil courts. At the moment, only autocratic Kazakhstan has a purely civil legal system, but that may change, once the ruling dictator dies or is removed from power. From Morocco to Indonesia, history has shown, that the legal duality between civil and Shari’ah courts, is not beneficial to society, and in fact, does not last.
Sarawak’s “Independence Day”
dear lynnete, i tottally disagree with ur point of saying most sarawakian want sarawak to be an independent state. based on roughly reviews of sarawakian in social medias, i can see most of sarawakian desire to have their own government, to be separate from the federation of malaysia. even within my own network of sarawakian friends, my ex-schoolmates, college-mates, in social mesanging (whatsapp,wechat group etc), they all have the same desire supporting the kingdom of sarawak. how can u say most sarawak did not agree with separatism? i think, the older generation would also agree of this idea of having sarawak to be separated from the federation of malaysia.
Political economy of Thai political pathologies
Absolutely right. Although attracting a lot of votes, the article is selective in its comments and flawed on this particular “fact” as many others. The sheep have not noticed.
Political economy of Thai political pathologies
So, no one knows what the NCPO did re Legal Execution. You can’t comment (presumably because you don’t know) but you can use the silly voting system. I suppose you realise there are a few nominees who are pressing the unlike buttons multiple times. One person in particular. Come clean, New Mandala. Allow free speech
Neutral No More?
Wow, you clearly haven’t made much progress from a primordial form of political cliquism
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
Why a rash of putting Buddhism on trial, while the real religion of intolerance IS Islam.
Mixing all different schools of Buddhism obliterate The Theravada Buddhism as the purest Buddhism of tolerance.
With examples of practitioners/martyrs abound who will sacrifice self just not to harm any living creature does call into question Mr Fuller association of Buddhism with violence.
The idiocy of ‘acquiring merits’ in Buddhism however can explain some simply human behavior.
If one see the Ne Win’s Pagoda, knowing the merit obtain might put him to a better “next cycle of life” it is not unusual for Buddhists to act in manners that relegate acquiring merits to much later rather than sooner. In between those periods anything does go.
Unlike Islam, It is not the Religion Mr Fuller, it is the Practitioners that make Buddhism look bad.
Political economy of Thai political pathologies
There must be a misunderstanding. If at all, a Buddhist prophecy would be the one dealing with Mettaya or Maitreya, which has nothing to do with Thailand. The prophecy referred to here might better be called the Chakri prophecy. This has two aspects:
1. Attributed to Rama I’s sister Narinthewi is the prophecy that the Chakri dynasty would last 150 years, which would be to 1932.
2. A prophecy concerning the kings of the dynasty. This is often discussed to mean that there will be nine kings of this dynasty (which is, compared to the dynasties of Ayudhya quite a lot!). This prophecy is attributed either to a monk, fortune tellers, or even to Rama I himself.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find a written version of it. Several years ago I saw a description. It does not say there will be only nine kings. In fact, the reigns of ten kings are described in a characterizing sentence. For the reign of Chulalongkorn it was said that parts of the body are removed. For Rama IX, if I remember right, it said “white birds gather”, interpreted as many farang enter into the country. The reign of the tenth king is described as harmony, civilization etc. Some interpret this as republic.
Malaysia: A discourse-impoverished society
I suppose a gag applied from infancy is the most effective. And if invoking “law” is the only way to get at the knot, then i hope we have more lawyers whose intent is to loosen the knot and eventually untie the gag – this gag, made of words in molds, made of sweet promises, made of beautiful iron fences clandestinely draped around collective imagination, ever so slightly tightened every single day…
Thanks for writing this.
Siamese dreams in the time of the junta
Dear Mr. Anderson,
I apologize for not responding to you earlier, but I have been recuperating from dental surgery.
You ask some interesting questions, and it is a shame that the opportunity for a critical examination of social science methodology was squandered through Mr. Saxer’s choice to respond to his critics in an extremely belligerent manner. However, I will say this, I, like the vast majority of social science scholars in the Anglosphere and beyond, am an unrepentant postpositivist. As you might know, postpositivism argues that while knowledge can be gleaned from empirical observation, those observations always possess systematic bias through the researcher’s theoretical stance, background, values, etc. Therefore the scholarly process of review, publishing, and criticism is vital in dealing with these biases as each person has their own backgrounds and values thus as the sum of knowledge in a discipline grows, the effect of these biases regress to the mean.
Now, to be consistent, if many of these pieces are biased, are the writers not required to preface their work with disclaimers such as “I was a rape victim so therefore my…” or “My cousin was killed with a gun so that’s why…” How far does a person have to go to justify to others that a given piece of writing is valid?
My answer to you would be that the dominate conventions of academic work in the social sciences would require one to mention those experiences only if they have any bearing on the topic studied. So, a writer should upfront and honest about who he or she is and how that might limit the study.
As an example, I recently submitted a research proposal to my institution for a case study that I hope to begin in 2016. As the phenomenon occurs within a certain sector of higher education that I belong to, I listed in great detail how my participation in that sector has the potential to bias the results of my study and the steps I shall take in order to limit the effect of those biases. For this, I was singled out for praise by the provost of the university who stated that far from detracting from the robustness of my proposed study, my honest and forthright identification of the limitations shall only add to the integrity of my proposed study.
Another example can be found in the introduction to Finnish Lessons by Pasi Sahlberg, who spends a page and a half listing his deep involvement in the Finnish educational system and how such involvement, might bias his arguments in support of the Finnish model, they also bolster his arguments as he his arguing from a large level of familiarity and expertise with the subject.
As for your last question, I will address that in remarks directed to Mr. Saxer himself.
Sincerely,
Lleij Samuel Schwartz
Political economy of Thai political pathologies
“What’s to say we are NOT on the cusp of another?” Indeed, but what’s to say we are? As things stand I can’t see any evidence for your hypothesis.
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
That is why Hinayana is called Theravada!
Buddha himself predicted that Buddhism would start to decay 2,500 years after his death and will disappear in another 2,500 years after that. True Buddhists should believe in this!
The recent problems in Burma are mainly racial. The Burmese are brainwashed into believing that dark-skinned Kalars (Indians) would contaminate their race and culture. Chinese are ok though! They should start changing the faces of the Buddha statues to make them look more Chinese, their new masters, Sinayana maybe?
It should also be noted that white people are called “Kalar phru” (white Indians) by Burmese. Indo-Aryans if you like and of course they “don’t get it” what it means to be a pure Buddhist. Richard Gere, who’s that? Dalai Lama hanging out with white kids OMG!
Burmese tend to forget that Buddha himself was a member of the Saka tribe which probably was Indo-Persian. Anyway everything, even religion, is about this primitive tribal + racial + ethnic rubbish. Burma hasn’t reached the age of “Enlightenment” yet (excuse the pun).
Causes of intolerance and prejudice in Buddhism
Like the difference between a highly learned political scientist and a usually barely literate politicians, a Buddhist scholar’s view could be very different form a “natural” or “native” Buddhist of any race with or without uncalled for “religious arrogance” plenty found at least among the Burmese and cultural background in all the Teravada version. That would paradoxically makes Dr Fuller at a disadvantage forever tallying up and analyzing.
At least as the traditional common people’s Buddhism goes in Burma, not learning even 0.1% of the Pali texts the likes of Dr Fuller would have gone through several times, there is simply no difference or animosity or conflict with Mahayana version or any other religion for that matter. It is inherently impossible to categorize people labelled as Buddhist and then further divide them into species. Because for traditional Burmese Buddhists, who by way could not careless what the Sri Lankans think or anybody for that matter, attaining the wisdom is the one and only aim. Ignorance (A-weik-zar) started it all and trying to seek “pyin-nyar” to realize it the aim.
Here that true effort is totally oblivious of all these Pagoda’s (which were supposed to be not to be build by Buddha himself- here it is similar to Salafist Islam belief)), donations, large congregations and festivals, etc., etc. are simply “human” version of Buddhist tradition which Dr Fuller might be more interested in.
In true Buddhism, one is busy realizing one’s own ignorance, there is simply no time to think about hating or recognizing or doing anything worldly with any other being, human or otherwise, let alone make a big deal out of particular species of human or his or her belief.
But in the popular Buddhism which can be studied and write books about and all that, again for the Burmese Buddhists, Mahayana is not hated or resented or any thing. It is simply not there. Buddhism being a thought and effort of trying to understanding self, there is no god or supreme being or any higher power. So this Dalai Lama simply means nothing. Of course n the worldly side, Dalai Lama is simply a consummate invention using movies stars, famous political leaders, famous prizes, etc., for use by people who invent him thoroughly shrouded in murky controversy. http://www.westernshugdensociety.org/files/A_Great_Deception_2011-08.pdf
It is simply “western” calculation that if the Burmese Buddhists cannot get on with other Buddhists, they must get more problems with other religions. As as far as “they” are concerned, there is no god or superior being or any political connection in the religion.
This most disturbing disastrous scene we see now in Burma is simple product of social ignorance and irrational “humanly” fear cynically used and stoked and incited by well organised truly evil and ruthless masterminds in and out of the country. And it is more of a social issue rather than religious issue which is just a label usurped.
Sectarian conflict in Mandalay
The hidden hand is probably Chinese. Most of these junta guys and their cronies are heavily bribed by Chinese. You can find the money stashed away in Singaporean banks.
China is successfully countering the futile attempt by the US to use Suu Kyi as a pivot to contain the Chinese invasion and exploitation of Burma. Burma is very important to China, geo-strategically, for natural resources and for Chinese settlements. China is using the Buddhist card and racial prejudices of the population to counter Western influence. Using the Muslims as scapegoats is actually dangerous for China, since the China vs Muslim extremists might be the next conflict. Besides, China has its own problems with Falun Gong and Tibetan buddhist monks.
There are still too many Chinese stooges “tayoke pu hsein yo:” in Burma.
Political economy of Thai political pathologies
Absolutely right. It is not a Buddhist philosophy at all