No Religion in the Military

“The military has no religion. Trust me, they have only money and power. For the military, money is everything. If you have money, they don't care if you are a Muslim or a minority.”

These are the words from Hassan, a Muslim Burmese activist whose family has wealth, standing, comfort... and a close relationship with high ranking generals going back generations. Hassan grew up in privileged schools in the Middle East, came back to Myanmar during the transition period, and started what became a flourishing business. Although he had never before had an interest in politics, the February coup revolutionalized him. Even though he could have easily sat it out and continued his work no matter who won, he decided to risk everything, as he didn't want his kids to grow up in another dictatorship.

Hassan has become an active fundraiser, collecting and distributing funds almost entirely on his own. He rarely talks about his work even to close friends and family, and so this podcast was a unique opportunity to hear not only what he is doing, but why he is doing it, and his overall thoughts on how the people can win.

Part of this discussion centered around Hassan's somewhat surprising view that the Islamophobia rhetoric from military leaders was more of a straw man argument than a real hatred, for many at least. Hassan's family has long benefited from their close ties, and to Hassan, there is only one real religion of the Tatmadaw: cash money and gold.