Monks not allowed entry to Rangoon without recommendations

Mon 19 Nov 2007
IMNA

Monks from the rural countryside in Burma have been banned from entering Rangoon unless they have recommendations.

Monks will be allowed to enter Rangoon for just medical treatment if they can show recommendations from the hospital at train and bus termini.

A monk who recently returned from Rangoon said the authorities are allowing monks to enter Rangoon if they have recommendations from doctors, the name of the monastery where they intend to stay, and also credentials from the monks of the monastery where they want to put up.

If the recommendations are incomplete, the authorities are not permitting monks to enter Rangoon. They are being sent back in the bus they came.

About 50 Monks from Arakan State were turned back after the authorities checked their recommendations at Rangoon station, said a monk who recently returned from Rangoon.

The monk said that the authorities are investigating monks at tea shops. They are being polite to monks and are also offering them coffee during questioning.

The monks do not dare to go to Rangoon because they are apprehensive of not getting permission from the authorities. That is the reason monks from Mon State rarely go to Rangoon for religious education these days.

Most residents and monks in Mon State who do not have relatives in Rangoon used to go to Rangoon for treatment and stayed at the monasteries.