I think things like the interfaith marriage law and those other laws are consistent with long-standing government tactics in Burma that involve trying to divide groups and pit them against each other so that they won't oppose the government, and also trying to stir up nationalism.
They've been deliberately stoking anti-Muslim feelings throughout Burma. That has led to a lot of the violence that you've heard about over the last few years. This has been a way of trying to present Muslims as a threat and therefore to swing the population more behind the government and the army, when they weren't behind them before.