New Zealand citizen Philip Blackwood. Pic: AP.

The prosecution of Rangoon bar manager Philip Blackwood for insulting Buddhism will come as no surprise to Burma watchers who have witnessed the steady rise of Buddhist fundamentalism and intolerance in Burma over the last few years.

Mr Blackwood, 32, a New Zealand national who was the general manager of the V Gastro Bar in Rangoon and two Burmese nationals Tun Thurein the bar owner and Htut Ko Ko Lwin the bar manager went on trial Friday after being held since December 10. The three men pleaded not guilty.

They are being prosecuted after they used a picture of Buddha in headphones against a psychedelic backdrop on a flyer advertising their bar.

Whilst Buddha images are highly revered in Buddhist countries like Burma and Thailand they are often fashionable icons with little spiritual significance in the West. The Buddha Bar franchise and its series of mix CDs which use Buddha images in their promotion have become very popular in Western countries and have spawned many imitators.

That is very possibly what inspired Mr Blackwood in his flyer design and seems to be confirmed by Lt-Col. Thien Win, the head of Bahan Police Station where the arrested men were taken. He told Irrawaddy: He said he did it because using the Buddha in ads is in fashion internationally and thought it would attract more attention.

Whilst putting out such a flyer is undeniably culturally insensitive I suspect Mr Blackwood and westerners who hear about the case might deem his potential punishment of four years imprisonment overly harsh.

Irrespective of the sentence, if Mr Blackwood was not aware of the potential ramifications of his flyer design his Burmese partners should have been and should have stopped him.

They would have been aware of the rise of Burmese fundamentalism and sectaria intolerance manifested in the rise to prominence of the radical monk Wirathu, the 969 movement and the formation of Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, better known as Ma Ba Tha, in June 2013.

The offending image posted on Facebook, and later removed, by Philip Blackwood. Image via Facebook.

Read this article:
Bar manager goes on trial in Burma amid rising Buddhist extremism