Upper House starts discussion on religious bills

 

The bill is aimed at preventing forced conversions to another religion. Anyone wishing to convert to another religion would need to apply for permission to a committee under the proposed law.

The two MPs who supported the discussion were Marn Kan Nyunt of Kayin State’s no.2 constituency and Khin Maung (a) Aung Kyaw Oo of Rakhine State’s no.3 constituency. The MP who opposed the bill was Paul Htan Htine of Chin State’s no.3 constituency.

“We back this bill. We have the right to freedom of worship. This law would protect forced marriage. This law ensures security to us. Religious customs are not found in Buddhist marriages [unlike those of other religions]. The law is to protect the religion but not to restrict other ones. Punishment is quite slight. If one is found guilty, the punishment would be up to two years in prison and a fine of not more than Ks200,000,” Khin Maung (a) Aung Kyaw Oo said.

Paul Htan Htine said: “It is too early for this law to be enacted. Some will use it as a political game. Our country has only just started practising democracy. The Constitution provides us freedom of worship.” 

Speaker Khin Aung Myint asked the Upper House to discuss the religious conversion bill in a quiet and careful way. 

Last month, President Thein Sein approved a set of controversial draft religious laws inspired by radical Buddhist monks and sent them to parliament, officials said Wednesday, prompting rights groups to voice alarm over the divisive nature of the proposals.

The draft legislation - including curbs on interfaith marriage, religious conversion and birth rates - will be debated by MPs and voted on in the coming parliamentary session, according to president's office director Zaw Htay. 

"The president had to draft the bills, but it is (parliament's) responsibility to enact them," he told AFP.

Rising Buddhist chauvinism has sparked fears that religion could becoming increasingly politicised as the former junta-run nation heads towards crunch 2015 elections.

The drafts were initially proposed by a group of nationalist monks known as "Mabatha", or the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, who have been accused of fanning intolerance in Buddhist-majority Myanmar after several outbreaks of violence against minority Muslims.

Opponents of the bills say they are discriminatory.

"These bills claim to be to protect women, but they are drafted against women's will," Ma Khin Lay, founder of rights organisation Triangle Women's Group Support, told AFP. "It is discrimination and control."

The campaigner, who along with other women's rights activists has faced threats for her opposition to the bills, said requirements for a host of official permissions would create further opportunities for misuse of power in a state system riddled with corruption.

A draft of the marriage bill was published in Myanmar language state media on Wednesday, laying out a web of rules governing marriage between Buddhist women and men of other faiths.

Couples would have to apply to local authorities - and the woman's parents if she is under 20 - and a notice would be displayed publicly announcing the engagement. Only if there were no objections could the nuptials take place.

The penalty for non-compliance would be two years in prison.

The religious conversion draft, published earlier this year, would also require anyone wanting to change religion to seek a slew of bureaucratic permissions.

That bill "has no place in the 21st century", according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which warned that together the proposals risk stoking violence and discrimination.

A Mabatha leaflet claimed the ills of inter-faith marriage range from rape, murder and forced conversion to "not saluting the Myanmar national flag".