U Phyo Min Thein returned to Yangon on Wednesday evening to a controversy over comments made during an official visit to Singapore interpreted as an attack on the hyper-nationalist Ma Ba Tha group.
The former political prisoner, who was sworn in as Yangon Region chief minister at the end of March, had told a Sunday meeting of Myanmar nationals living in Singapore that there was no need for the existence of Ma Ba Tha, also known as the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, as the government-sanctioned State Sangha Mahayanaka Committee already administered the country’s Buddhist orders.
Phyo Min Thein’s comments caused a minor storm on social media in the days following. Around 10 protesters arrived to meet his flight, holding handwritten signs to condemn the comments and shouting slogans to complain that the chief minister had never condemned non-Buddhist religious associations. (Courtesy of frontiermyanmar.net)
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