Racist Nationalist Buddhism: A Challenge For Aung San Suu Kyi?

Wondering people's thoughts on this article, which argues that Buddhism as official state religion and cultural marker is playing a conservatizing and at times deadly racist role in Burma.  (Similar to Christianity in the U.S., let's not forget).

Suu Kyi has a Buddhism problem. Specifically, she faces an obstacle in the chauvinism and xenophobia of Burma's Theravada culture, which encourages a sense of racial and religious superiority among majority Burman Buddhists at the expense of ethnic and religious minorities. Although the world has been largely focused on the drama between Burma's military leaders and "The Lady," fraught relations between ethnic Burmans, who make up 60 percent of the country's population, and the non-Burman minorities, who make up the remaining 40 percent, could leave the country politically fragmented -- and strengthen the military's hand just as it has been forced to loosen its grip.

Many interesting points (though I'm still waiting and hoping to hear more analysis from people who've been living in Burma their whole lives). And a comment from a Burmese researcher, included almost as an aside, jerked my political ear in particular:

Maung Zarni, a Burmese research fellow at the London School of Economics, said that Suu Kyi's reticence was likely a matter of political pragmatism. "Politically, Aung San Suu Kyi has absolutely nothing to gain from opening her mouth on this," he told the Associated Press. "She is no longer a political dissident trying to stick to her principles. She's a politician and her eyes are fixed on the prize, which is the 2015 majority Buddhist vote."

*   *   *[Top photo: Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to the White House Tuesday. Photo: AP.]