If Suu Kyi can offer no hope to the Rohingya, cutting off the cash flow to Myanmar may work
Manjit Bhatia says Aung San Suu Kyi has buried her head in the sand on the issue, when what is needed is fewer platitudes and harsh sanctions from leading powers to make Myanmar’s elite feel the pain
Aung San Suu Kyi is a flop, while Myanmar, formerly Burma, lurches towards becoming a failed state. Since her National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s landslide 2015 election win, which propelled her to the specially created post of state counsellor – or de facto head of government – she has talked the talk but can’t seem to walk it.
On the explosive Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi buries her head in the sand. It’s painfully obvious the Muslim Rohingya continue to be brutalised by Buddhist fundamentalists and terrorised by Myanmese soldiers, while the rest of the world, including the UN, sits on its hands. Right under her nose lies the possible making of a Myanmese slaughterhouse that, if left unchecked, could well become Southeast Asia’s Aleppo.
For all her promise to bring democracy and civility to the country after decades of military dictatorship, Myanmar, a member of Asean, has regressed into ultra-right-wing xenophobic savagery.
Armed troops and police travel in trucks through Maungdaw, Rakhine state, on October 14 last year, five days after armed men carried out raids on posts along the Bangladesh border, killing nine police officers. Rohingya insurgents were blamed for the attacks. Photo: AFP
At the UN General Assembly in September, Suu Kyi pledged to uphold minority rights in Myanmar. But it was a pledge without commitment. She mentioned the western Rakhine state, home to the Rohingyas, but refused to call the persecuted group by name.
Watch: Aung San Suu Kyi addresses troubles in Rakhine at the UN
Suu Kyi’s vacillation is partly due to a lack of spine, in spite of her many promises during her long periods of house arrest to return Myanmar to democracy and modern civilisation. Her growing cageyness also reflects the near-absolute control exerted by the country’s military, which ruled from 1962 to 2011.
The charred remnants of a market set on fire at a Rohingya village outside Maungdaw in Rakhine state, on October 27 last year. Photo: Reuters