Aung San Suu Kyi lets us down...

Aung San Suu Kyi's equivocal attitude towards the violence against Burma’s Muslim minority threatens to tarnish her reputation.

The hardships endured by Aung San Suu Kyi during her long struggle against Burma’s dictators and her 15 years of house arrest almost defy comprehension. After all that suffering, it would be tragic if her reputation were to be tarnished just as she stands on the verge of becoming her country’s president in the 2015 election. Sadly, Miss Suu Kyi’s equivocal attitude towards the violence against Burma’s Muslim minority threatens to do exactly that.

Her words on the Today programme yesterday were profoundly disappointing. Miss Suu Kyi sought to explain the communal violence, which has forced 140,000 Muslims to flee their homes, as a product of the “fear” of the Buddhist majority. “This is what the world needs to understand: that the fear is not just on the side of the Muslims, but on the side of the Buddhists as well,” she said. But Muslims comprise barely 4 per cent of Burma’s population – and they have been singled out for attack ever since the riots in Rakhine state last year. Equating the fears of a 90 per cent majority with those of a small and beleaguered minority is deeply insensitive, particularly when the Rohingya Muslims, the main victims of persecution, are not even allowed to become citizens (an issue on which Miss Suu Kyi has also equivocated).

 Most jarring of all was her response to the simple question: “Do you condemn the anti-Muslim violence?” She replied: “I condemn any movement that is based on hatred and extremism.” When a Nobel laureate cannot answer that particular question with a straight “Yes”, we are entitled to feel dismay. True, Miss Suu Kyi is a politician, and she must respond to the views of her electorate. But she became a symbol of courage and humanity precisely because of her willingness to stand against the tide when it led in the direction of autocracy and repression. Source...

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