RESTRICTING PRAYERS FOR AUNG SAN SUU KYI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001814

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL BM
SUBJECT: RESTRICTING PRAYERS FOR AUNG SAN SUU KYI


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Classified By: POLOFF Dean Tidwell for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: After Shwedagon Pagoda officials harassed
worshippers in November at their weekly prayers for Aung San
Suu Kyi, thirteen participants wrote a letter of complaint to
regime leaders. Authorities ordered the worshippers to
request advance permission for future prayers, but allowed
them to continue their weekly practice in December. END
SUMMARY.


2. (U) Naw Ohn Hla, a Karen Buddhist and staunch follower of
Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK),and a small number of ASSK
supporters have gathered to pray at the Shwedagon Pagoda each
week on 127 separate Tuesdays since July 13, 2004. They
gather at the Tuesday shrine dedicated for those born on
Tuesdays (ASSK was born on Tuesday) to pray for the release
of ASSK and all political prisoners, and for all who
experience personal difficulties.


3. (U) On November 7, members of the Shwedagon Pagoda
Trustees Board ordered Naw Ohn Hla and approximately fourteen
other worshippers to their office. The trustees told them
they could not conduct religious activities at the pagoda on
behalf of just one person. They said that since the
worshippers were not all born on Tuesday, they should worship
at their individual day shrines. The trustees alleged that
they could not continuously carry out weekly prayers without
clandestine support. The trustees also threatened to make
legal charges against the worshippers. Naw Ohn Hla asked why
they restricted them now but let them pray 127 times before.
The trustees did not reply and abruptly ended the meeting.


4. (C) On the following Tuesday, November 14, when the
worshippers went to pray at the Shwedagon Pagoda, the eastern
entrance gate was closed. Pagoda security guards and others
wearing no uniform informed them that they could not enter
the pagoda, so the group said prayers near the closed gate.
According to Naw Ohn Hla, Lieutenant Colonel Thein Hteik Oo
of the Rangoon Military Command appeared to spearhead the
opposition to the worshippers.


5. (U) On November 21, the group was again blocked at the
same gate and a group of nearly thirty people, including
pagoda guards and persons in plain clothes, said they could
say prayers at the pagoda's perimeter, near the giant
guardian lions. The worshippers moved to the lions and
started to pray, but the guards and others in plain clothes
followed them and disturbed their prayers by shouting and
clapping loudly.


6. (U) The worshippers decided to write letters to Senior
General Than Shwe and to the Patron Monk of the State Sangha
(Buddhist Monk) Committee complaining about the harassment.
They mailed the letter to Than Shwe on November 24 and Naw
Ohn Hla personally delivered the letter to the Patron Monk on
November 27. The letters explained that the worshippers were
praying peacefully and they had no intention to make a
disturbance.


7. (U) When the worshippers visited the Shwedagon on November
28, authorities did not try to block them, but instead
ordered them to go to the Trustees Board office for
discussions. The trustees read some rules and ordered the
worshippers to request permission in writing three days in
advance of future religious activities. Naw Ohn Hla believes
this order pertains to organizations that want to conduct
religious activities, not individuals. However, to highlight
the trustees' harassment of individual worshipers, she
submitted an application.


8. (U) Naw Ohn Hla wrote an application to the Shwedagon
Pagoda Trustees on December 3 requesting to pray on Tuesday,
December 5. She sent copies of the application to Senior

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General Than Shwe, the Patron Monk of the State Sangha
Committee, the Prime Minister, the Rangoon Mayor, the
Minister of Religious Affairs, and the Minister of Home
Affairs. The pagoda trustees returned her letter and
reprimanded her for only requesting permission for herself
and not for the group, as the trustees had ordered. She
explained that the group has no leader, therefore she could
not request for the group, but only for herself. So far, the
worshippers have been able to gather every Tuesday in
December without incident.


9. (C) COMMENT: The activities of Naw Ohn Hla and like-minded
worshippers have placed the regime in a quandary. Since the
regime regularly publicizes its strong support of Buddhism,
restrictions on prayers at a pagoda are hard to defend. If
she becomes enough of a threat or irritant, Naw Ohn Hla may
face arrest for violation of some law totally unrelated to
her religious activities, to quiet her support of ASSK. END
COMMENT.
VILLAROSA