Buddhist Relief Mission Condemns Sl

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Buddhist Relief Mission Condemns Slorc Interference in Sangha  Matters

Buddhist Relief Mission
Supporting the Buddha Sasana Worldwide
266-27 Ozuku-cho, Kashihara-shi, Nara-ken 634, Japan
Tel: (07442) 2-8236   Fax: (07442) 4-6254
e-mail:brelief@xxxxxxx
Ken and Visakha Kawasaki, Directors

                                             
Press Release                                     October 1, 1996


    On September 29, 1996, official Myanmar television reported that the
State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC) believes that the National League for
Democracy
(NLD) is trying to agitate monks in the following ways:
    1)    sending members to monasteries frequently to befriend the monks
    2)    sending its members to be ordained as monks, thereby trying to
divide the loyalty
          of the monks.
It was further announced that laws have recently been passed so as to
prevent the ordination
of NLD members.  The  Central Monks' Committee (Sangha Mahanayaka) was
instructed
to  contact all levels of  LORC offices if any NLD member sought ordination. 

    Buddhist Relief Mission declares that these measures constitute a gross
interference
in the time-honored independent nature of the Buddhist monastic order, the
Sangha, and an
outrageous abuse of the rights of Burmese Buddhists.