By Michael Aquino
Southeast Asia Travel Expert, about.com
To go by Jim Croce, "You don't tug on Superman's cape; you don't spit into the wind; you don't pull the mask off that ol' Lone Ranger." And to go by recent events in Myanmar, you don't take the Buddha's image in vain.
At least two foreigners have made that mistake and paid dearly. The expatriate manager of a bar in Yangon
was recently sentenced to two years in prison for posting an online
image of the Buddha in headphones. And a Canadian tourist was compelled
to leave Myanmar after a local noticed the Buddha's face tattooed on his
leg.
[post_ads_2]
These two cases illustrate the uncomfortable reality of
travel in Myanmar. Foreign travelers may be lulled by the easygoing use
of Buddha iconography elsewhere in the world, then find out the hard way
that Myanmar applies far harsher rules. And Myanmar's mixed history with the West being what it is, local authorities are eager to make an example of Westerners who cross the line.
The Case of the Headphones-Wearing Buddha
Hey, if the Buddha Bar could do it, why couldn't VGastro do it too?
In an effort to promote their establishment on Facebook, New Zealander Philip Blackwood posted a picture of the Buddha wearing headphones - judging from the psychedelic background, he was probably listening to something trippy.
The
picture immediately went viral for all the wrong reasons. Angry Burmese
passed the image around on social media, and a protest was organized in
front of VGastro bar - notably attended by monks associated with the anti-Muslim movement elsewhere in Myanmar.
The local police were compelled to take action; Blackwood was arrested
along with the Burmese owner and manager in December 2014, and held in
Yangon's notorious Insein Prison.
"During the interrogation
session, Mr Philip, who runs the bar mostly, said he posted the pamphlet
online on December 9 to promote the bar," Lt-Col. Thien Win, Bahan
police deputy-superintendent, later told Irrawaddy magazine. "He said he did it because using the Buddha in ads is in fashion internationally and thought it would attract more attention."
In prison, Blackwood couldn't catch a break. As a foreigner, he was not allowed any visitors. And four local lawyers turned his case down, one citing police pressure.
In March 2015, Blackwood and his Burmese colleagues were sentenced to two years in prison
under articles 295 and 295(a) of the Myanmar Penal Code that punish
"insulting religion" and "hurting religious feelings." An additional six
months was tacked onto the sentence for violating zoning regulations.
[post_ads]The Case of the Buddha Leg Tattoo
By comparison, Jason Polley got off easy. The Canadian university professor is a practicing Mahayana Buddhist, and he told CBC News that he got a tattoo of the Buddha on his leg "to represent a pillar of support."
Some
Burmese did not see the tattoo in the same way. When Polley and his
girlfriend visited Myanmar in July 2014, a Burmese citizen took a
picture of Polley's leg and made an angry post of it on Facebook which,
like Blackwood's Buddha image, immediately attracted all sorts of
unwelcome attention.
It turns out the position of Jason's Buddha
tattoo was somewhat blasphemous. The Burmese share the Balinese and Thai
discomfort with lower body parts, and the sight of the Buddha so
casually imprinted on a man's leg evoked a visceral reaction from
conservative Burmese Buddhists.
The authorities were alerted, and
caught up with Polley at Inle Lake. Polley and his girlfriend were
immediately put on a car to Yangon International Airport,
15 hours away; Chinese Embassy officials in Hong Kong intervened on
their behalf, but the pair decided to leave anyway. "We deemed it safest
to leave, given the disinformation about Jason… circulating in
Myanmar," Polley's girlfriend Margaret Lam told the South China Morning Post.
A Rising Tide of Nationalism in Myanmar
It's
easy to draw parallels between these cases in Myanmar and neighboring
Thailand's intolerance of any insults to their King. Like the King in
Thailand, Buddhism in Myanmar stands at the very center of Burmese national identity.
[post_ads_2]
And like the Thai Monarch, the image of the Buddha serves as a potent rallying call for certain interest groups. Just as lese majeste trials in Thailand
have risen sharply along with the state of political unrest, the Buddha
prosecutions seem to go hand in hand with an incipient Burmese
nationalism.
Buddhist nationalist groups like the 969 Movement and
Ma Ba Tha have gained massive grassroots support, which they use to
push laws that restrict religious freedom in Myanmar (Buddhist women,
for instance, are banned from marrying men belonging to other religions,
to go by a recently approved law).
Their
motivations are as nationalist as they are religious, which puts
Westerners like Blackwood and Polley in a pretty bad spot. The Burmese,
still stinging from their century-long subjugation under the British
Raj, will not hesitate to get back at Westerners making light of their
most deeply-held convictions.
Lessons Learned the Hard Way
This
is in no way an attempt to blame Westerners like Polley and Blackwood,
who seem guilty only of ignorance of Myanmar's laws on religious
feelings. Bad timing, too, plays a part: their offenses would not have
been as severely punished in the past, but the national feeling in
Myanmar right now has changed.
And it might not be easy to accept,
but suspicion of foreigners certainly factors in. The Burmese may have
largely accepted tourists with open arms, but not all do. This is true
of Southeast Asia in general, not just Myanmar: locals are particularly sensitive to foreigners behaving badly,
and there are enough outraged locals on Facebook to ensure that your
faux pas goes viral in a flash. (Jason Polley was blissfully unaware of
the offense his leg tattoo had caused until Burmese officials told him,
"You understand that you're a Facebook star in Myanmar?")
There's one lesson travelers should take from this: do not take your host country's beliefs lightly. This applies as much in Cambodia and Indonesia
as it does in Myanmar: as easygoing as the locals seem to be, many of
them draw the line at acts that trivialize their religious convictions.
[post_ads_2]
Unlike
in the United States and other secular Western countries, most
Southeast Asian countries establish a state religion, in practice if not
by statute. Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia all have laws that recognize the special position of Buddhism in society; Communist countries like Laos and Vietnam still retain a majority of Buddhist adherents.
This
means that offenses caused to the local religion often have legal
repercussions. And your foreign passport will do your defense no good;
quite the opposite in fact. (In the worst cases, no local lawyers will
want to touch your case with a seven-foot pole - just ask Philip
Blackwood.)
To stay on the safe side in Myanmar (or the rest of the region, for that matter), follow these simple tips:
- Do not discuss religion with any locals
- Keep any religious iconography (any religion) under wraps
- Treat any local religious imagery with respect - from the Buddha images in the temples to any Buddha themed souvenirs
For more country-specific etiquette tips, read our articles on Do’s and Don’t’s in Myanmar, Etiquette in Cambodia and Do’s and Don’t’s in Thailand. Also relevant: read about Do's and Don'ts for Buddhist Temples.
