| Due to economical hardships under
the SPDC, even Burmese monks are leaving their monasteries and
working in the neighbouring countries to support their elderly
parents. DVB’s Maung Too files a report from Thailand
starting with the comment of an ex-monk who is working in a
factory in Maesod:
An
ex-monk : ‘As the economical situation got worse and
worse, I came to Thailand with five other monks to work. The
farmers [in Burma] have to sell rice quotas to the government
and they are forced to sell rice to the army at half price.
Our parents are facing dire economical hardships. We had no
desire to study our religious texts and came to work in Thailand
like now. In this factory alone, I found many ex-monks.’
Maung Too : That was the comment of an
ex-monk, Ko Zaw Win, with the religious title of Zawtipala
from a monastery in Insein who is currently working in a wool
factory in Maesod. Ko Zaw Win left the monkshood while he
was studying in the Premier Class in religious studies and
came to work in Maesod. There are approximately 200 ex-monks
working in Maesod now. By looking at the plights of the monks,
we can estimate the dire economical situations in Burma, say
the observers. |
