"Why is the military chasing you?"
We’ve gotten tremendous feedback from the recent interview with Bhikkhu Mokkhita. The story of how his eco-school was partly burned down and then taken over illustrates the senseless greed and mindless destruction that interrupted the forward progress that so many sectors had been making since the recent democratic reforms. The excerpt below speaks to why, perhaps counter-intuitively for some outsiders like the monk’s own father in Germany, the military would look to punish those who are making their community a better place.
“That’s the biggest threat to them – whoever is doing good in this country, gets chased down, is shot, is tortured.”
“I've seen organizations invest millions of dollars into their aid projects. One of our partner schools that was famous in their area for their NGO work, was stormed by 150 soldiers! It was completely smashed, and if they are not detained, the leaders are in hiding or still on the run. Unfortunately that's just one of many examples.
My father, he can't understand all of this - ‘Why? Why is the military chasing you? Why on earth did they do this to you and others? You are the ones who were helping the children in that country so selflessly. You are the ones providing good education and doing everything you could for last years, bringing so many donations and doing this incredible work. You are the one they should be helping, praising and supporting!’
That's exactly the thing.
Everybody who has done good for the country, provided help to the children and the people, brought open-mindedness, freedom, and prosperity to the country, and helped instill basic democratic values; They are the threat for the military.
The military, they don't want free-minded, open-minded people who are possibly even connected to other countries, having good networks and NGOs and international schools. That's the biggest threat to them – whoever is doing good in this country, gets chased down, is shot, is tortured.”