Last night I
watched The Lady, a film documenting the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi from Oxford housewife to Burmese freedom fighter. It’s
difficult not to be touched by the passion, bravery and sacrifice she
shows for the Burmese people, who suffered not only the indignity of
over a century of British colonial rule, but also decades of brutal military
dictatorship, which continues to this day. The actions of Suu Kyi have resulted
in millions of Burmese looking to the future with hope, rather than trepidation.
However, her silence in recent years in relation to the Rohingya situation in
the country’s north has left me perplexed.
In
her youth, Suu Kyi left Burma to study in the UK, and while at college met her
husband, Michael Aris. They settled in Oxford and lived a comfortable life, but
everything changed in 1988 when Suu Kyi visited her dying mother in Burma and
discovered her political calling. This period saw the first tentative steps forward
for The National League for Democracy, with Suu Kyi flexing her leadership
muscles, while molding her philosophy of non-violent political change. Many
influential meetings ironically took place in the family home, the very place where
her father dreamed of a free Burma half a century before.
Suu
Kyi's father, Aung San, played a pivotal role in securing independence from the British,
but his assassination just six months before the historic handover meant the
father of modern Burma never tasted the sweetness of political autonomy. Suu Kyi followed in her father's footsteps and
attempted to instill dignity and belief into a wounded people, stoking the fire
of hope within the nation's heart.
In
the eyes of the Burmese people, Suu Kyi overflows with goodness, and her
persona, which is gentle but firm, is a potent catalyst for change. She represents a flame of hope burning
brightly in the face of governmental cronyism and ineptitude. This
manifested itself in her landslide victory in the 1990 election, the first
democratic election since 1960. However, her win was anathema to the
military elite who laughed in the face of the country's collective will and
placed Suu Kyi under house arrest, where she remained for the next fifteen
years. At the same time, influential members of the National League of
Democracy languished indefinitely in Burma’s jails. Their only crime was
instigating change in a land where misrule had robbed generations of a future.
There is little
doubt that The Lady, as Suu Kyi is
affectionately known in Burma, acted with drive and forethought, attempting
to fulfill her father's destiny and propel Burma forward towards a
better future; however, in the wake of her dominance of Burmese politics, her
failure to speak out about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in the countries
north east has tarnished the image of the Nobel peace
laureate.
In recent
years, Rakhine state in Northern Burma has been rocked by ethnic violence
between Buddhists and Muslims. The severity of the situation, combined with the
fact that many Muslim monks are hiking up tension with incendiary comments, led
me to consider a number of questions:
Why is this
upholder of the good, this embodiment of compassion not saying more?
Suu Kyi's
silence strikes a chord of unease in the heart of human rights activists,
many of whom are beginning to question her motives.
Is she being
politically expedient?
Perhaps Suu Kyi is widely tipped to win the 2015 election and
become the leader of the country; thus, a show of support for the Rohingya
could infuriate Buddhist voters, who in turn might punish her at the ballot
box.
In June, 2013,
Suu Kyi broke her public silence on the Rohingya
issue when she condemned the government’s two-child policy, which puts a cap on
the number of Rohingya offspring per family. The junta state
overpopulation as justification for the policy; however, it’s a Muslim only
policy and doesn’t apply to the country’s 90% Buddhist majority.
Who knows what
the future holds for Burma, The Lady, or the embattled Rohingya minority. Memories of what happened in Ruanda are still vivid
in the minds of international observers, and to prevent the unspeakable
happening, Suu Kyi might have to speak out more often to prevent a catastrophe.
