How to treat a fake monk
In our interview with Inda Aung Soe, he immediately indicated that he was not going to avoid speaking openly, and he more than followed through with his promise. In the following excerpt, he discusses the government’s strategy of injecting criminals with morphine, putting monks’ robes on them and shaving their heads, and setting them to attack Yangon residents. Either way, they were hoping to win: either the homes would be burned down; or if by chance the fake monks did not succeed in causing mayhem, then they would likely be captured and beaten, and photos and videos would soon circulate in this devout Buddhist country of lay people seeming to attack monks. The protesters’ support would be cut short. But, as we learn from Inda, this is not exactly what happened. And once again, non-violence borne from mettā played a role.
“You know, sorry, military, that’s not going to work.”
“The military government wants to create some kind of religious problems. So some of [the criminals’ heads were] shaved and the other day, they said, in Mandalay, 200 monks' robes were bought in a day.
So they were being sent with robes and a shaven head, and some of them got caught. But you know, if the public cannot control their anger, and they do some kind of harm on them, then they will make a record of that. And they will spread the message back again that [lay people] are even beating the monks! And so [because of that], there might be a problem between the nationalists and those who've been striking against the military, and then they have a good reason: the country is in chaos and fighting each other!
So [the military would] have to use power. That's why [they’ll say], they have to use their weapons on the public. And no one can blame them. They have been looking for a reason, a strong reason, so that they can use weapons on the public. They just want to finish these strikes by using force and weapons, but they still can't, because they can't find any reason! Everyone is striking really quite peacefully.
But you know, the public is not that stupid. We can differentiate between who is it the real monk and who is the fake monk. ‘No, you just shaved your head today, and if you wear the robes, your look is quite obvious!’ Even if you have years of experience in the past, it's not the same. Even my own mindset, already three years away from the robes, and if I shaved my head today and wear the robes today, then people can differentiate that. [If I] just put on the robe today with my look, it's already quite different.
We can differentiate who's the real monk who's the fake monk. So that's not going to work! You know, sorry, military, that's not going to work.”