At the Age of 24 Suu Kyi became a Xenophobe

Dr. Abid Bahar
RB Aritcle
November 18, 2012

Suu Kyi had declined to speak out on behalf of stateless Rohingya Muslims. Most people wondered why. She has now answered the question herself. Not known to most people while in India, at the age of 24 she formed her ideology as a devoted Buddhist and anti Muslim Burman. True, I have been following her for a long time, like the ultra nationalist Rakhines, when she was asked about the Rohingya, she rarely used the word "Rohingya." In her role as the opposition leader, this has been a disappointment for the Rohingya.

In Suu Kyi's claim that Rohingyas are the recent immigrants from Bangladesh, no doubt she simply buys the ultra nationalist/ military constructed history. For the Rohingya problem, instead of a solution, now she seems to have become part of the problem.

As she opened her mouth wide open in India, she "described violence in west Myanmar between Buddhists and Muslims as a "huge international tragedy'" She says: "Don't forget that violence has been committed by both sides, this is why I prefer not to take sides and also I want to work towards reconciliation," she told the NDTV news channel. But did she do anything yet for reconciliation?

When asked "Is there a lot of illegal crossing of the border (with Bangladesh) still going on?: She said: "We have got to put a stop to it otherwise there will never be an end to the problem," she said.

"This is a huge international tragedy and this is why I keep saying that the government must have a policy about their citizenship laws," she said.

"There are quarrels about whether people are true citizens under law or whether they have come over as migrants later from Bangladesh," she said. "Most people seem to think there is only one country involved in this border issue."

"There are two countries. There is Bangladesh on one side and Burma (Myanmar) on the other and the security of the border surely is the responsibility of both countries."She says.

We question: If she is right, how come over 300,000 Burmese Rohingyas are still stranded in Bangladesh and more up to a million forced out Rohingyas now live in the Middle East and in other countries.

Does she know about the history of the Rohingya? She is dead wrong about the claim that there has been continued Bangladeshi infiltration into Burma. If she thinks it is a huge international problem, as a researcher on the Rohingya, I am asking her to do some readings and find out who the Rohingyas truly are. History tells us, Rohingyas have been in Arakan from the 8th century and Burman rule in Arakan began only from 1784 with a genocidal occupation of Arakan.

"The Rohingya, who make up the vast majority of those displaced in the fighting, are described by the UN as among the world's most persecuted minorities." It is now clear that Suu Kyi who has been called by the Rohingya as their mother, but first in her silence, now in her explanation, we see she has been a Burman nationalist politician all along. Despite the setback for the Rohingya, it is good to know who is the true Suu Kyi is. It is now clear that she became a xenophobe at the age of 24 and she ignored defending the Rohingyas going through genocide.

(Dr. Abid Bahar specializes on Western Burma, visited refugee camps in Bangladesh in 1978, and 2003; he now teaches in Canada)