It amazes me that a person who fought so hard for human rights can turn such a blind eye to human rights to a people group whom her country hates and refuses to support.
So Aung San Suu Kyi has promised to repatriate refugees (she wouldn’t refer to them people group by name) as long as they are verified.
"Ms Suu Kyi did not mention the Rohingya by name in yesterday’s speech, but did address their potential return.
“There has been a call for the repatriation of refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh,” she said.
“We are prepared to start the verification process at any time.”
“A verification process was set up as early as 1993,” she said.
“Based on the principles to which both countries agreed at this time, we can continue with the verification process of refugees who wish to return to Myanmar.”
The article goes on to show what that process entails but suffice it to say that as the Rohingya people group are not recognised and do not have any rights it will be impossible for them to prove they ever lived there.
Ethnic cleansing is being orchestrated and this so called human rights person is basically ignoring it.
Burma (Myanmar) is a military dictatorship where Aung San Suu Kyi is a puppet leader in place to ensure the safety of her people.
Over 30 years ago I was part of an Australian aid project through the World Bank to build a 120 bed hospital in Rangoon (Yangoon). It seemed like a great project to help an impoverished nation, but actually the hospital was a facility only for the military elite behind a walled estate.
I stayed in a quaint hotel where I met Aung San Suu Kyi at a reception sponsored by the Australian Consulate. Her beauty just filled up the room and her short speech was passionate and inspiring. So I am a huge fan of hers and accept the fragility of her position. The Burmese Military are ruthless and despotic, they would kill their own kids to keep power.
The plight of the Rohingya has always been dire and Burmese argue that they are illegals from Bangladesh. It is now more acute as the Rohingya yet support from so-called Muslim extremists, and fight back harder than ever. It is another part of the World that full of grief and sadness, too many guns, little value on life and despots with thrive on power, and many willing to kill for them.
Aung San Suu Kyi is in a no-win situation and has little power to do much at all.
She is in her seventies. She has spent her life fighting the fight at great personal expense. I don’t know what is in her mind, but she has the runs on the board and if she is about protecting her people from the Military, then so be it.
And check the history, she has never been a champion of the Rohingya.
No she hasn’t, in fact her people group hate the Rohingya was absolute passion, hence the ethnic cleansing taking place and her deafening silence on the issue.
When you run a race, you don’t get close to the finish line and then say you have done enough, you run it to the end.
If you are basing your understanding on the media’s superficial coverage of this issue then you will be very misinformed. Thanks Bacchus for providing some personal insights.
Leaders that have no power or authority over the military, especially a military such as in Myanmar, have very little capacity to stop their brutality. Within Myanmar’s own constitution Aung San Suu Kyi has no authority to sanction the military and if she tries she will be removed and Myanmar will revert back to military dictatorship.
She is working within a terribly flawed system and all she can do is prosecute individuals within the legal system and we know it’s virtually impossible to gather evidence against individual soldiers.
When you hold any person accountable for some action, they need to have the authority and capability to influence that action. We should understand that.
The silence and even more so the false equivalency being propagated by Suu Kyi is shocking. Bacchus, your personal experience gives me pause, but I must admit to being deeply disappointed. Bangladesh is doing what it can by accepting 500,000+ refugees. On the other hand India appears to be kicking them out to appease Myanmar.
There are very tragic places on this Earth. This list is long and I do not have to name them, as we know who they are.
There are commons traits in them all, inter-racial hate, religious hate, power in the hands of the corrupt and lots of farking guns. The Western World have been complicit in most and done very little to prevent the deaths or support the victims,
Sitting here is our safe havens, it is easy to blame Aung San Suu Kyi , but the real blame belongs to the Military Leaders and the Troops who kill, rape and maim.
All this I can agree with. I am not suggesting Suu Kyi is personally responsible for the genocide. However, her prominence does give her a platform which is not being used.