Soldiers raid Yaw Sayadaw's Tipitaka Metta Hospital
On September 18, Khit Thit Media reported a the raid led the Myanmar military into the charitable hospital named “Tipitaka Metta Hospital,” which was founded and is run by the Tipitaka Yaw Sayadaw.
On September 5th, an armed troop of 15 soldiers entered Myinn Zar Village with two local guides, firing indiscriminately. After raiding the hospital, soldiers assaulted the 70-year old younger brother of Yaw Sayadaw, and then ordered the doctors, nurses and the staff to sit down on the floor with their hands behind their back. They then stole their phones, and whatever other valuables they had on them. Not being satisfied with their takings, they then began raiding homes in the nearby villagers, as many residents had fled in terror upon seeing the soldiers, where they stole more valuables and killed livestock. The wife of one of the guides who brought the soldiers to the hospital, was given one gold ring by the soldiers as a gift for her duplicity; a local eye-witness confirmed that it was one of the robbed jewelries from the villagers.
Tipitaka Yaw Sayadaw is one of only 15 “Tipitaka Sayadaws” in contemporary Myanmar history, and so has been revered as one of the most important living monks today. (Tipitaka Sayadaws are the scholars who passed the national examination of the “Three Basket Buddhist Canon”, both in writing and chanting, and is a very rare achievement). Yaw Sayadaw contributed four billion Myanmar Kyats to establish the hospital back in 2014, taking advantage of the democratic transition period to be able to serve his home community. This fund also included full salaries for the doctors, nurses and staff, as well as accommodation and meals. The charitable hospital has provided the local people with free health services and treatments since that time. An attendant of the Sayadaw said that Yaw Sayadaw was horrified to hear that this hospital was raided, that his younger brother was beaten and the staff robbed by the military.
A local man said that the Captain of the nearest battalion claimed that it was not his responsibility to oversee the discipline of soldiers who weren’t under his direct control, thus shielding himself from any criticism. Local villagers said that the troop left the Lat-Pan village the next morning, then arrived back to the village around 4 pm and the soldiers said, “Since this is the native village of Yaw Sayadaw, we are not going to put on fire. Otherwise, we would only be too happy to turn this entire place into ash, like we are doing to all the other villages. We only save it because don’t want Yaw Sayadaw to criticize us.”
Before the coup, there were hundreds of patients who were recruited daily at the hospital. The local people from Kalay Township, Tamu Township and other townships in Chin State are relying on this hospital. It is also worth nothing that at 2.40 AM on November 21st, 2021, the SAC troops raided the Maha Visuddhārum Shwe Kyin Monastery of the Most Venerable Yaw Sayadaw in Bahan Township in Yangon.