Around 3,000 people including Buddhist monks led by the Yangon Region’s Nationality and Religion Safeguarding Association held a protest yesterday to call for the enactment of the interfaith marriage bill.
Published on Sunday, 26 October 2014 07:41
YANGON- Around 3,000 people including Buddhist monks led by the Yangon Region’s Nationality and Religion Safeguarding Association held a protest yesterday to call for the enactment of the interfaith marriage bill.
Organised by the Yangon Region’s Nationality and Religion Safeguarding Association (NRSA), members of the association in Yangon Region and other members of the NRSA in other states and regions joined the march, which was held with permission from the authorities.
The protestors started the march from Kyay Thone Pagoda near the eastern gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda and circled the Shwedagon Pagoda by walking on the Kabaraye Pagoda
Road, Shwedagon Pagoda Road, U Wisara Road, and West Shwegonedaing Road. The protested ended with talks on the interfaith marriage bill.
“I want to request the President to enact the interfaith marriage bill. The interfaith marriage law is important to prevent the extinction of our nationality. I regard those people who are blindly opposing this law to be ‘national traitors’,” an ethnic woman who participated in the protest told the Daily Eleven.
Thousands of protestors shouted slogans such as ‘We Don’t Want Those That Are Opposing the Interfaith Marriage Law’ and ‘Those That Violate Nationality Are Our Enemies’ while holding the placards ‘Immediately Enact the Interfaith Marriage Law in order to Prevent Extinction of Myanmar Ethnic Races’, ‘People Who Oppose the Interfaith Marriage Law Are Those That Don’t Want to Safeguard Their Nationality’.
“The interfaith marriage law is the lifeblood of Myanmar. That’s why we, the monks, are demanding the authorities including the President and the MPs to enact this immediately. This interfaith marriage law does not affect the people of different nationalities and religions. It doesn’t affect the government. It is in line with democracy. It is also in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so we demand [the authorities] to enact this immediately,” Parmaukkha, chief abbot of the Magway Monastery, said during his speech after the protest march.