Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Talks Cheap

Win Lwin

RB Opinion

April 7, 2013

I felt an urge to write an opinion piece about Aung San Suu Kyi as communal riots were occurring in the Rakhine State but I thought I should give ‘The Lady’ time to prove me wrong. The time has since past and the optimistic wish that she would prove me wrong is nothing but a waste of time. 

With the communal violence in Rakhine still smoldering, we are now in the midst of another targeted violence against the Muslim minority; the cloak of deception behind of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese government and by large the majority of the Buddhist population is now lifted and their racist ways are in the full glare of her people and the world. 

After the alleged rape case of a Buddhist girl by three Muslim men, the massacre of Rohingya and Muslims in Arakan displaced tens of thousands of people. Those alleged rapists were arrested but a vigilante group of Rakhine Buddhist murdered a bus full of Muslims who were no way connected to the alleged rapists besides professing to the same religion. 

What followed next is common knowledge to all except to the Buddhist Burmese who have blood on their hands; rapes, targeted killings and systematic eviction of the Rohingyas from their homes and lands by mobs of Buddhist Arakanese while the government security elements looked away or complicit to the violence inflicted on Rohingya and Muslims. 

As the world gasped in horror; Aung San Suu Kyi was globetrotting and basking in the international limelight. Questions after questions were directed at her about the ongoing killings and displacement of these Rohingya Muslims back home but she side stepped the questions by talking about the rule of law. 

After a long silence she says she had not spoken about violence because she wanted to promote reconciliation between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. Her usage of the words ‘Buddhist and Muslim communities’ clearly indicates that she is fully aware of the issue, which is not the alleged illegal Bengali intruders but a religious conflict that has been simmering for decades. 

“But 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 toward reconciliation between these two communities. I am not going to be able to do that if I take sides". 

Defending one’s life when threatened with death is not violence. These Rohingyas are at the receiving end, maybe it’s time ASSK stops playing politics and start speaking as a true statesperson and an agent of change and reconciliation. 

What she has failed to realize is that she already has taken sides when she speaks about how monks were insulted by Muslims allegedly without speaking about killings of innocent Rohingya children, women and men by Buddhist led mobs. 

A monk is not above the law; a monk is also a human with weaknesses and as it is quite clears, a vast majority of them in Burma are racists. A man in monk attire who commits a crime is nothing but a man who has committed a crime and a criminal at best. Unless ASSK makes such a statement, she is nothing but a person who preaches democracy, equality, freedom and other democratic ideals for her race and religion only and no one else. She preached idealistic things but failed to explain to the people that an idealistic way of thinking is quite far from the realities of life. She has hoodwinked herself and the people. 

She has failed to live up to her own ideals which she articulately propagated during her incarceration. Was it all rhetorical or a mask to hide the real ASSK? 

With the Buddhist population so blinded by their hatred for people and religion they have little or no idea about, with aggressions perpetuated against Muslims in other parts of Burma increasing, ASSK feels it is prudent to maintain her silence. Is this silence out of desperation not to lose her political base or is this silence an insight to her own racist way? 

Her silence is irresponsible and the correct phrase to describe her silence is ‘criminal’. This silence on her part has also made her a collaborator in the displacement and deaths of countless Muslims in Burma. She too has blood on her hands. 

This is a woman who was given the ‘Noble Peace Prize’ for standing up for democracy and freedom for Burma but from my recollection; the idea of nominating her as a candidate for this prestigious prize was not for her fight for such things but because her husband felt it prudent that bestowing such a prize on her will discourage the government from harming her. Of course, my comment is debatable to say the least. I personally feel, this prize was prematurely given to her even if it did protect her from further harm. After all, many had been tortured and killed for the fight for democracy and freedom; what makes her so special besides who her father was? Her political stand presently is nothing noble and certainly brings shame to the award conferred to her. 

I am sure many will think this to be ranting of a person who does not know ASSK; but who really knows what she is thinking and who she really is? Politics is perception and my perception of her is that of a racist who is out to canon herself politically for her own interest or that of her own race and religion at the cost of innocent Muslim men, women and children. 

“The kind of seed sown will produce that kind of fruit. Those who do good will reap good results. Those who do evil will reap evil results. If you carefully plant a good seed, you will joyfully gather good fruits”, Dhammapada. 

In ASSK’s case, she is enjoying the rock star status and the chants of people calling her Amma (mother) and Daw Suu ( Daw – is an honorary title to address a woman of higher status), while people are dying all around her. How is she planting a good seed? She is not planting any seed; she is just harvesting the fruits as the result of seeds of hatred that the government planted along time ago towards the Muslims and other minorities in the minds of the Buddhist population. She saw an opportunity to nurture an evil seed to gain political mileage. I have no doubt that the Muslims of Burma will continue to be treated as outsiders and as a pariah community for at least 3 generations to come. 

The young boys and girls in Burma whose age between 7 to 10 are already brainwashed to hate Muslims. That leaves the teenagers, young adults, middle aged adults and seniors who are already tainted by racial hatred will suffer from racial-phobia for the rest of their lives, perhaps. Where is the hope for Muslims to enjoy democracy and freedom in Burma when the very person who is leading the fight herself is a racist and bigot? 

I personally see a very uncertain future of the Muslim’s in Burma; what hope is there when the very person who speaks about the rule of law, democracy, freedom and equality is in fact propagating all these democratic values for her own race and religion but no one else? 

I say a prayer every night with the hope that ASSK will once again garner my respect and support but I remain a pessimist in light of her silence and indifference to the suffering of the Muslim community of Burma who have paid with their lives and blood to support her. 

The writings, here, are of author’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of RB.