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Myanmar Gives Tourist Who Pulled Plug on Buddhist Chants 3 Months in Prison

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D

Dalek

Member
Myanmar Gives Tourist Who Pulled Plug on Buddhist Chants 3 Months in Prison

07MYANMAR-web1-superJumbo.jpg
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MANDALAY, Myanmar — A Dutch tourist who unplugged an amplifier that was broadcasting Buddhist chants, which he said disrupted his sleep, was sentenced to three months of hard labor in prison by a court here on Thursday.

The tourist, Klaas Haijtema, 30, was found guilty of causing a disturbance to an assembly engaged in religious worship. He had been staying at a hostel in Mandalay on Sept. 23 when a nearby Buddhist center began broadcasting the recitations of religious devotees.

“I was really tired that night and woke up to the noise,” Mr. Haijtema told the court during a hearing last week. “I was very angry and assumed that children were playing music. I told them to lower the volume of the loudspeakers before I unplugged the amplifier, and they didn’t understand me. That’s why I unplugged it.”

Mr. Haijtema wept after the prison sentence was announced. He was also fined the equivalent of $80 for violating the terms of his entry visa, which require visitors to obey Myanmar’s laws and customs. Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country, and Mandalay is a relatively conservative city.

Mr. Haijtema’s lawyer, U Hla Ko, said that he would file an appeal and that the Dutch Embassy should ask for Mr. Haijtema’s release. Attempts to contact an embassy representative on Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.
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Buddhist organizations in Myanmar often use loudspeakers at high volume to broadcast sermons, perform rituals or solicit donations, and many social media users took Mr. Haijtema’s side after his arrest was reported.

Two lawyers not involved with the case said the Buddhist center, or dharma community hall, that woke Mr. Haijtema appeared to have violated the law by using loudspeakers after 9 p.m. The law also bans their use before 6 a.m. and requires a permit.

“The one that broke the law is the dharma community hall, not the Dutch man,” said one lawyer, U Zaw Win.
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A resident who lives near the center, Ko Hla Myo Aung, said that there were six others in his ward and that all of them broadcast chants at high volume late at night and early in the morning.

“If the Buddha were still alive, he would go deaf from the noise from the loudspeakers,” Mr. Hla Myo Aung said.
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M

Maximo

Member
Seems excessive? Normally I would agree to throw idiots in jail for being oblivious to different cultures and the laws while being a guest in another country but seems like the community hall violated a law by playing the music after a certain time? Not that he should have unplugged them anyway..
Edit: Read more nvm dude wore shoes in the hall and had a bunked VIsa..yeh goodluck buddy.
 
F

Fusebox

Banned
"Ommm, peeeeace.... Ommmm peeeeace.... Who the fuck unplugged the sound system?! Punish them!! Puniiiiiish them!!!"
 
F

freeofgreed

Member
You could make the argument that it's excessive. But at the same time it's hard for me to empathize. You're visiting a developing country that doesn't have the best human rights track record. So maybe don't go and touch other people's shit in a fit of rage while you're there?
 
A

Atomic Playboy

Member
Excessive sentence, but what kind of entitled asshole do you have to be to go to another country and just start fucking with things? "I was telling them to turn it down but they didn't understand me" (probably since he wasn't speaking their language)... seriously? That's a terrible defense.
 
M

monadi

Banned
What ended up happening to the guy who took down a north korean propganda poster? Obviously harsh punishments, but not a hard concept to grasp. Don't touch shit thats not yours in these types of countries.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
I really don't understand people who disrespect a person's sleep

Sleep (night) is super important. More important than anything else.

Free this man!

Seriously, don't fuck with people's sleep.
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
On a more serious note I think that religion based punishments are bullshit, but one shouldn't go into a foreign country and act in such a patronizing manner without acknowledging the potential consequences.
 
K

Kozak

Banned
monadi said:
What ended up happening to the guy who took down a north korean propganda poster? Obviously harsh punishments, but not a hard concept to grasp. Don't touch shit thats not yours in these types of countries.
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Didn't that end in him being released after months of proceedings and a fake apology ?

I reckon that kid had it tougher cause of the psychological abuse he would have copped
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
"Ignorance of the law is no defense"

And honestly, Myanmar? three months? Closely observed by the US? This is a good outcome for that dude.


Meanwhile that little shit from Singapore with the car vandalization thirty years ago got away scot free.
 
A

AlimNassor

Banned
Switch Back 9 said:
What's jail like in Myanmar?
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Bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insein_Prison

That's just one of many.

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/na...rt-dire-state-of-myanmar-s-prison-system.html

ite visits by a Myanmar National Human Rights Commission investigation team earlier this year revealed severe overcrowding in Hktami Prison in Sagaing Region, where 688 prisoners were held despite its 300-person capacity. Another visit, to Loikaw Prison in Kayah State found 518 inmates held despite a 409 person capacity.

On top of this, the prisons systematically torture inmates, according to the AAPP. Torture is employed “not only as a means of extracting information and false confessions, but also to punish, degrade and humiliate detainees”.
The AAPP claimed thousands of prisoners are forced in to labour while serving their sentence, sometimes in prison labour camps, and other times at the battlefront as porters.

In the prison labour camps, food, clothing and medical supplies are reportedly very limited, making these facilities “harsh and life threatening”.

AAPP joint secretary U Bo Kyi told The Myanmar Times that the prison system in this country falls “far short of international standards”.
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A

AlimNassor

Banned
karasu said:
No sympathy at all. You don't go to another country and walk around like you own the place.
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Ya do realize he[s going to be tortured and sentenced to hard labor>? it's not a walk in the park. Infact, it's very possible he might die. Disease is widespread in that prison system and the guards let inmates die rather then treat them.
 
S

Seesaw15

Member
Thought this was going to be another case of an asshole tourist fucking up in another country but this is pretty messed up. Hope the guy's embassy gets him out.
 
P

Piecake

Member
ezrarh said:
Just give him a fine or something. This is the type of dumb law and order Trump supporters would want.
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It doesn't sound like he even broke the law. The Buddhist monastery did by blasting those chants during times when it was forbidden
 
S

spazchicken

Member
I don't even care about the reason but screw this guy. I want him to suffer. How do you go to someone else's house and try to make the rules? Not your culture, not your country, not your religion, yet this pompous, arrogant, selfish, disrespectful prick is going to try and do things his way?

Hard labor isn't hard enough. He needs that cane across his ass too.
 
R

Rushersauce

Banned
spazchicken said:
I don't even care about the reason but screw this guy. I want him to suffer. How do you go to someone else's house and try to make the rules? Not your culture, not your country, not your religion, yet this pompous, arrogant, selfish, disrespectful prick is going to try and do things his way?

Hard labor isn't hard enough. He needs that cane across his ass too.
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You tell them, Trump.....

Jesus....
 
Maximus.

Maximus.

Member
spazchicken said:
I don't even care about the reason but screw this guy. I want him to suffer. How do you go to someone else's house and try to make the rules? Not your culture, not your country, not your religion, yet this pompous, arrogant, selfish, disrespectful prick is going to try and do things his way?

Hard labor isn't hard enough. He needs that cane across his ass too.
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Did you read the OP at all? They were broadcasting the chanting over loudspeaker past the permitted time. So yes, it was rude for him to hastily disable the speakers, but it seems like he wasn't technically in the wrong based on the info in the OP.
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
spazchicken said:
I don't even care about the reason but screw this guy. I want him to suffer. How do you go to someone else's house and try to make the rules? Not your culture, not your country, not your religion, yet this pompous, arrogant, selfish, disrespectful prick is going to try and do things his way?

Hard labor isn't hard enough. He needs that cane across his ass too.
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I think you might have hit your head.
 
Z

Zukuu

Banned
spazchicken said:
I don't even care about the reason but screw this guy. I want him to suffer. How do you go to someone else's house and try to make the rules? Not your culture, not your country, not your religion, yet this pompous, arrogant, selfish, disrespectful prick is going to try and do things his way?

Hard labor isn't hard enough. He needs that cane across his ass too.
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And people wonder why stoning and lashing are still in place in some parts of the world...
He frigging unplugged a speaker. Nothing more, nothing less, and you want him to be physically harmed and tortured.

He shouldn't have done it but that doesn't mean it's an acceptable punishment.

Also:
Two lawyers not involved with the case said the Buddhist center, or dharma community hall, that woke Mr. Haijtema appeared to have violated the law by using loudspeakers after 9 p.m. The law also bans their use before 6 a.m. and requires a permit.

“The one that broke the law is the dharma community hall, not the Dutch man,” said one lawyer, U Zaw Win.
Click to expand...
 
M

MGrant

Member
Wow, the only thing he's guilty of is being a sleepy grouch and giving some folks a minor inconvenience. Three months will do no good for anyone except persuading people to stay the fuck out of Myanmar.
 
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