Donation Collected for Monks' Exam

Narinjara News
Maungdaw: The examination for Buddhist monks sponsored by the military government will start tomorrow throughout Arakan State, and authorities are currently collecting donations from local residents to offer food to the examinees, said an official from Maungdaw on the condition of anonymity.
He said, "We collected the donation from local residents in Maungdaw yesterday to offer food to the monk examinees, and the collection will continue until this evening."

Maungdaw's district council recently formed three groups along with many government officials to collect donations from locals in Maungdaw.

A resident from Maungdaw said, "Yes, a group of government officials led by U Nga Mae Chay, director of Maungdaw Township government directorate, has been collecting donations from our ward number one, and there are eight officials in the group."

Similarly, an eight-member team led by U Hla Paw Zan, who is an official from Maungdaw Township municipal council, has been collecting donations from residents in ward four, while a nine-member team led by Kyaw Myo Tun has been collecting donations from ward number three.

The collections will be handed over to U Ray Min Aung, a newly appointed Maungdaw Township chairman according to the deadline set by the authority, said one source.

"It is a duty of the township religious department in Maungdaw to offer food to the monk examinees, but the department does not have enough in the budget to make the offering during the exam period. So the authority arranged to collect the donations from local residents," said the resident.

In Maungdaw Township, 51 monks will participate in the examination this year, and 13 abbots will supervise the exam. Because of this, the authority is collecting funds from local residents to support food offerings to the monks. The exam will end next Monday.

The resident said, "We are Buddhist and it is culture to donate to monks. People in Maungdaw donated the fund to the collectors willingly, but it is impossible to donate whenever the authority asks for it, because the people are suffering currently from a continued decline in the economy in the region."

According to local residents, it is typical for the Burmese military to collect funds from locals to establish pagodas and temples, but the military authorities often use the funds to pay for inscriptions to record their own names for posterity.