Anti-Muslim Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu in Myanmar says Trump ‘similar to me’
Shunned by Myanmar’s new government and its Buddhist hierarchy, the nationalist monk blamed for whipping up at times bloody anti-Muslim fervour says he feels vindicated by US voters who elected Donald Trump to be president
Shunned by Myanmar’s new government and its Buddhist hierarchy, a nationalist monk blamed for whipping up at times bloody anti-Muslim fervour said he feels vindicated by US voters who elected Donald Trump to be president.
Ashin Wirathu, a high-profile leader of the Myanmar Buddhist organisation known as Ma Ba Tha, drew parallels between his views on Islam and those of the Republican president-elect. Trump’s campaign was rife with anti-Muslim rhetoric and proposals that included banning Muslims from entering the country and heightening surveillance of mosques. The form his actual policies will take remains unclear.
“We were blamed by the world, but we are just protecting our people and country,” Wirathu said. “... The world singled us out as narrow-minded. But as people from the country that is the grandfather of democracy and human rights elected Donald Trump, who is similar to me in prioritising nationalism, there will be less finger-pointing from the international community.”
He even floated the idea of cooperating with nationalist groups in the US.
We were blamed by the world, but we are just protecting our people and country. The world singled us out as narrow-minded
“In America, there can be organisations like us who are protecting against the dangers of Islamisation. Those organisations can come to organisations in Myanmar to get suggestions or discuss,” he said in an interview at his monastery in Mandalay on November 12.