YANGON: Military songs rang out across downtown Yangon Sunday as tens of thousands rallied in defense of Myanmar’s army, an institution accused by the global community of driving Rohingya Muslims from the country. Those elections sent Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party into power, but the Rohingya crisis has put her government on the backfoot. Demonstrators carried banners lauding Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and rebuking the international community for “pressuring the Tatmadaw” — as Myanmar’s army is known. The Rohingya are not recognized as one of Myanmar’s patchwork of ethnic groups. Fear of a Muslim takeover of Buddhist-majority Myanmar through Rakhine state has been kindled over decades by the army, which is now casting itself as saviour of the nation.

Source: Manila Times October 29, 2017 09:22 UTC