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    December 17, 2011

Buddhist Monk Faces Eviction From Burma Monastery

   VOA News
   Buddhist monks look at a notice from the state committee of Sangha Maha
   Nayaka at the Shwenyawar monastery in Rangoon on December 15, 2011.
   Photo: Reuters
   Buddhist monks look at a notice from the state committee of Sangha Maha
   Nayaka at the Shwenyawar monastery in Rangoon, December 15, 2011. The
   state committee of Sangha Maha Nayaka announced the removal of Pyi Nyar
   Thiha from the monastery after he preached at the Mandalay division
   headquarters of the National League for Democracy.

   A Buddhist monk in Burma has been ordered out of his monastery after
   giving a speech at an office of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
   party.
   Ashin Pyinyar Thiha, who recently met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
   Clinton during her historic visit to Burma, says he received a letter
   from a government-backed council of Buddhist elders.
   The State Sangha committee is asking him to leave Sadhu Buddhist
   Monastery in Rangoon, saying the speech he gave in September at a
   branch of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy in Mandalay,
   in central Burma, was inappropriate.
   Ashin Pyinyar Thiha told the French news agency he will appeal the
   decision.
   In recent months the Sadhu monastery has held a series of political
   events.
   Burma's new government took over in March and has shown tentative steps
   toward democratic reform.
   Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a landmark
   visit to the Southeast Asian country to assess the progress of its
   reforms.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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