SPEAKING
FREELY Rohingyas test Suu Kyi's
credentials By Ridwan Sheikh
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please
click hereif you are interested in
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A glitzy red carpet
event in Capitol Hill in September saw the US
Congressional Gold Medal award, the highest
civilian accolade given by the US government,
given to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar politician,
for services to "democracy". Back home in the
western Myanmar state of Rakhine it was a
different picture. The killings and persecution of
the Rohingyas, an ethnic minority group, went on
unnoticed.
The hidden persecution of the
Myanmar Rohingya Muslim minority is nothing new,
dating back to the 15th century. Then, thousands
of soldiers from Bengal arrived in the region, already
inhabited by a small Rohingya
population, under the orders of Jalaluddin
Muhammad Shah of Bengal, after Burma's Arakan king
sought help from the shah, realizing his reign was
under threat.
Following the king's
dethronement by a Burmese opposition, the soldiers
decided to settle in the region. Later, Arab
seafarers visited and settled in the region, and
soon a mix of Turks, Persians, Central Asians,
Pathans and Bengalis, shaped the area.
The
current xenophobia is a legacy of British
colonization in the 19th century, when a huge
influx of Indian immigrants settled in Myanmar,
changing the economic landscape. While the newly
arrived immigrants enjoyed the bounties of the
British, with jobs in middle and upper civil
positions, the local inhabitants were restricted
to menial labor.
Holding on to that
propaganda in today's Myanmar is mere fiction. It
is misguided to believe the causes of dire
economic despair for the nation's estimated 70
million people [1], is the work of roughly between
800,000 to 1 million poverty-stricken Rohingyas.
[2]
In a bygone era, where anti-government
protests dominated Myanmar's history, it is
disturbing how its people and monks, who once
called for an end to violations of human rights,
are now the chief instigators of threats to wipe
out an entire people.
It was thought that
Aung San Suu Kyi's return to the political fold,
following her release two years ago after house
arrest of 15 years, would bring political reform
to a nation ruled by the military for more than
half a century. Two years later, nothing has
changed.
The main antagonists of this
tragedy, the Buddhist core, the military and
police forces, and the silent Aung San Suu Kyi,
have kept the flames of resentment burning by
strengthening the people's warped perception of
the Rohingyas, who routinely face discrimination,
including large-scale arrests, rape, torture,
random killings, looting and destruction of homes
and property. [3]
The Dalai Lama's
reaction was reduced to nothing more than a
toned-down letter, written to Aung San Suu Kyi two
months ago, describing how he felt "deeply
saddened" and "very concerned" for the plight of
the Rohingya people, while refusing to condemn the
aggressors. His "holiness" brushed the matter
aside, while continuing to tour the world, giving
lectures on topics such as peace and conflict
resolution in places like Kashmir.
A
similar gesture was expressed by Aung San Suu Kyi,
during her recent 17-day tour in the US, at the
illustrious Harvard Kennedy School. During the
question and answer session, one student bravely
asked: "You have been quite reluctant to speak up
against the human rights violations in Rakhine
State against the Rohingya... Can you explain why
you have been so reluctant?"
Aung San Suu
Kyi responded sheepishly: "You must not forget
that there have been human-rights violations on
both sides of the communal divide. It's not a
matter of condemning one community or the other. I
condemn all human-rights violations."
This
half-hearted response reaffirms the"arrangement"
between the military junta and Aung San Suu Kyi
allowing her to resume the leadership of the
National League for Democracy political party on
condition she doesn't criticize the ruling
establishment.
Following decades of
international isolation after economic sanctions
were imposed by the US government in 1988, the
Myanmar president, Thein Sein, visited the US in
September 2012 signaling an end to the nation's
economic and political exclusion. The meeting with
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paved the
way for the US to relax its import sanctions on
the nation.
Terms were further endorsed on
November 19, when re-elected US President Barack
Obama made an historic, fly-by visit to Myanmar,
becoming the first US president to visit the
nation.
While the media lapped up the
sound bites of a bright economic future for
Myanmar, the visit was of particular interest to
the world's corporations, specifically US
corporations, as it added substance to plans to
ruthlessly exploit Myanmar's natural resources and
tap into a gold-mine of cheap labor.
San
Suu Kyi's inaction is beginning to undermine her
credibility as a bastion of human rights and
freedom. What are her motives to look the other
way as Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims are being killed
and routinely persecuted? Doesn't this silence
threaten the very ideals of "Mother" Suu, as she
is affectionately known, in her pursuit of freedom
and justice in Myanmar?
Her political
party, the National League for Democracy, is well
aware of the persecution endured by this discarded
community, but believe that joining the Myanmar
people in rallying behind President Thein Sein's
proposal of uprooting the Rohingya to another
country is more important to maintain the popular
support base for the political party.
The
main reason for Aung San Suu Kyi's silence is the
lure of the 2015 elections, as promised by the
ruling government. The chance to govern Myanmar
yields a far greater prize. If it means abandoning
her principles and aligning herself to the
majority view then so be it.
Central to
the carte blanche policy of persecuting an entire
people is the 1982 Citizenship law, which views
the Rohingya's as "stateless", making them
refugees in their own homeland. To Myanmar
nationalist leaders, the legislation adds further
credence to their rhetoric and subjugates an
ethnic group to living in deplorable conditions,
enduring crippling unemployment and having
inadequate healthcare and education.
The
major propaganda drive comes from the Rakhine
Nationalities Development Party, (RNDP), a
political party in the state of Rakhine, priding
itself in promoting "democratic" values, with the
slogan, "Democratic Voice of Burma", while
excluding the Rohingyas in its definition of
"Nationalities" - and it is very open about that.
Such hatred for an ethnic group reinforces
the idea of how a nation's top-level propaganda
and conditioning, over a period of time, can be
absorbed into the veins of society and eventually
lead to horrific consequences, where vehement
blind hatred replaces logic and reason.
One group, Arakanese monks (the term
referring to the term previously used for
non-Muslim inhabitants of Arakan, now Rakhine,
State) illustrated the hatred in society by taking
part in a protest march opposed to the opening of
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) offices
near Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon (formerly
Rangoon). Unashamedly, President Thein Sein heeded
such calls and halted the opening of OIC offices.
"I am amazed that they arrested peace
activists demonstrating in Yangon [Rangoon] over
Kachin state [in the country's strife-torn
northeast), but just allow this promotion of
hatred, especially by people like the monks, who
would be the best actors to try to calm things
down - it seems to be completely unbelievable,"
said Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project, an
independent human rights organization.
Meanwhile, at the All-Arakanese Monks'
Solidarity Conference, a document was released
that was reminiscent of Gestapo tactics, urging
locals to take pictures of anyone alleged to be
supporting the Rohingyas and distribute these
images with the intention of targeting
sympathizers to violent attacks by nationalist
extremists.
It may be ludicrous to suggest
a nation holds such a vindictive view against an
ethnic minority group, as it is always a handful
of rogue elements that wrongly represent a nation,
but recent atrocities, such as the harrowing
events in Rwanda and Srebrenica, have dispelled
this popular belief.
The future of Myanmar
remains ominous, perhaps mirroring China, where
dissent is more tightly controlled, with little
international media scrutiny and in Myanmar's case
strangely no political pressure to halt these
deplorable crimes against the Rohingyas.
Notes: 1. Britain-based
human rights agencies place the population as high
as 70 million. 2. Source: Human Rights Watch.
3. Source: Burma Campaign
UK.
Speaking Freely
is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest
writers to have their say.Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing. Articles submitted for this section
allow our readers to express their opinions and do
not necessarily meet the same editorial standards
of Asia Times Online's regular contributors.
Ridwan Sheikh began his
editorial roots as the editor of a grassroots UK
activist group, Stop political terror, (Ceased to
Exist), which focused on UK terrorism legislation,
especially cases of prisoners detained in Britain
without charge. He completed his post-graduate
diploma in Journalism from the London School of
Journalism.
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