YANGON (AFP) -
Myanmar's ultra-nationalist Ma Ba Tha movement announced Sunday (May 28) it was
rebranding under a new name, days after Buddhist authorities banned the network
which has been accused of stoking Islamophobia.
The monk-led
movement grew in strength under the country's previous military-backed
government, peddling a form of hardline Buddhist nationalism that intensified
sectarian tensions with minority Muslims.
But after months of
distancing itself from the radical group, Myanmar's top Buddhist clergy on
Tuesday ordered the Ma Ba Tha to cease all activities by mid-July or face
prosecution.
The threat did
little to deter thousands of maroon-robed monks, nuns and lay followers from
attending a weekend summit at a Yangon monastery decorated with Ma Ba Tha
banners, with many defiantly declaring their intention to keep the movement
going.
On Sunday the group
released a statement saying they would use a new name: the Buddha Dhamma
Philanthropy Foundation.
"We urge all members
in all regions and states around the country to work for the country, people
and religion using the name of the Buddha Dhamma Philanthropy Foundation,"
said the statement, signed by its monk leader Tilawka Biwuntha.
The new name is
noticeably less controversial and confrontational than the original.
Ma Ba Tha is the
Burmese abbreviation for a phrase that translates as "The Association for
the Protection of Race and Religion" - a name the group would also give as
its official English title.
With the help of
notorious firebrand monk Wirathu, who attended the weekend gathering and has a
significant Facebook following, Ma Ba Tha became know for sermons and protests
that helped foment the idea that Buddhism in Myanmar is threatened by Islam.
Muslims have lived
in Myanmar for centuries but only make up around 5 per cent of the population.
In recent months
Buddhist hardliners have shut down religious events across the country and
forced two Yangon schools accused of illegally doubling up as mosques to close
their doors.
Police arrested
several nationalists this month after a fight broke out in a Muslim
neighbourhood of Yangon, when dozens of people raided a house believed to be
hiding Rohingyas - a Muslim minority maligned by many Buddhists.
Earlier this year
the ruling clergy, a body known as Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, banned Wirathu
from preaching for a year, though he still spoke at the gathering on Saturday.
The same day Tilawka
Biwuntha signalled the group had no intention of disbanding.
"If you write
Ma Ba Tha, you can erase the words. But no one can erase Ma Ba Tha from your
heart," he told supporters.