why am i getting downvoted? she's the leader of the govt and has not helped address the issue. whether or not it's in her power is besides the point. she did the politically convenient thing and pretended that nothing was wrong.
She is the leader of civilian government, which has no control of military. The military is not within civil control, legally. Civilian government has no power to order the military to do anything.
She had two choices: 1) Say publicly that military are bad people, and erode what little power military affords NLD and fragile relationship between civilian government and military. Or 2) Have the press hate her for not saying words, and maintain the fragile understanding and peacemaking process with military.
She chose the least bad option, in support of civilian rule, democracy, and peace building. Publicly condemning military for Rohingya doesn’t accomplish anything for anyone.
"In 2012, she told reporters she did not know if the Rohingya could be regarded as Burmese citizens."
"However, she said that she wanted to work towards reconciliation and she cannot take sides as violence has been committed by both sides."
"State crime experts from Queen Mary University of London warned that Aung San Suu Kyi is "legitimising genocide" in Myanmar."
"Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a fellow peace prize holder, also criticised Suu Kyi's silence: in an open letter published on social media, he said: "If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep"
"In early October 2018, both the Canadian Senate and its House of Commons voted unanimously to strip Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary citizenship."
She has been trying to build relationship with generals, and is not going to publicly denounce them just to achieve some kind of moral pageantry. Angering the military so she can appease people who don’t do anything for Burma is pointless.
If ASSK was in charge Rohingya situation would not happen. But she’s not in charge. Holding her to some impossible ideal is ridiculous. Blaming her for genocide is offensive. It’s just part of a game western academics, journalists, and moralizers like to play.
Her actions are completely understandable if you understand the political situation, and its history.
And for most Burmese the lack of support for her fledgling civilian government by the nations and journalists that condemn her has created deep resentment. Nobody here cares at all what they think.
Imagine how it feels to have people, who don’t even know the name of the generals, how the government works, or where Myanmar is on a map, tell us how evil ASSK is. The person who has sacrificed her whole family and life for peace and reconciliation.
This is the exact rationale the US uses when it supports dictatorships - "we're just choosing the least worst option". It's not exactly a convincing argument.
The fact is is that what's happening to the Rohingya is a a genocide - and ASSK says nothing or even worse, tries to dismiss it or make excuses. As Desmond Tutu said in the statement I quoted, if the price of her position is silence, that's a price too high.
You really expect her to die on a hill that can’t be held? What’s the point of that? Publicly shaming the military isn’t a way for her to achieve anything. She is a prisoner of the people responsible for the war crimes in Rakhine state. She doesn’t need to condemn anything. Everyone in Burma already knows who is responsible. It would achieve absolutely nothing.
And Desmond Tutu’s letter is patronizing and ridiculous. She has no power over the Rakhine situation. None. The only power she had was negotiating with the military. She doesn’t need to be told that people don’t deserve to be victims of war and ethnic strife.
sounds like another case of "there are good people on both sides". anyway, the takeaway here is that she did the thing that was meant to keep the fragile arrangement intact, and yet here we are today with the same result had she chosen the morally right thing in the first place.
There is no comparison between the US and Myanmar. There is absolutely no comparison between Trump and the brutal dictators who hold Burma hostage.
I suppose the Gies family should have walked outside and told the Nazi soldiers they were pieces of shit. That would be the morally right thing to do!? Get a grip. Sometimes speaking truth to power is just fucking dumb.
Do you think Burmese aren’t in the streets protesting because they approve of the government, or because they know they will get shot?
The obsession with defaming ASSK over the evil actions of the military is pathetic. It is so so low and pathetic how the international media relentlessly implies ASSK is secretly a supporter of genocide because she won’t tell the military off in public. All it accomplished was emboldening the military and damaging relations with the civilian government. Just so all the “journalists” could pat themselves on the back for being so courageous.
