Army officer prohibits traditional funeral in temple

Army officer prohibits traditional funeral in temple

IMNA
September 2, 2006

With no respect for either the dead or the living, an officer of the
Burmese military in Thanbyuzayat Township, Southern Burma prevented the
traditional funeral of an abbot from being held in the temple
precincts. He claimed it belonged to the military.

We had a lot of problems after the military officer from artillery
battalion No.315 ordered us to hold the funeral in the cemetery outside
the temple, Nai Toi Port, the temple donor from Pa-nga village,
Thanbyuzayat Township said.

The Major's order said, the temple land was owned by the army.
Therefore the villagers could not hold the funeral on army land for
Abbot Ven Nai Ki who was over 70 years old.

The villagers took the body of the abbot to the village cemetery and
had difficulty burning it in the heavy rain.

According to villagers, the battalion had confiscated the land in the
area a long time ago and seized almost all the temple land in the hill.
The temple land was resold for army business, claimed the villager.

According to the law, the military has no right to seize religious land
and resell it.

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