24 Apr, 2013
Suu Kyi can’t wait forever to defend minorities – The Japan Times
LONDON – Last month, as the anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar spread from Rakhine state in the western part of the country to the central city of Meiktila, Aung San Suu Kyi sat among the generals on the reviewing stand as the army marched past on Armed Forces Day. She is seen as a saint by many people — but she didn’t say anything about Meiktila, where just days before at least 40 people were killed and 12,000 made homeless
She hasn’t condemned the far greater violence against the Muslim Rohingyas of Rakhine state during the past year either, but there she had at least the flimsy excuse that this group are portrayed by the military regime as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The military regime even revoked their citizenship in 1982, and they have never got it back.
The claim that the Rohingyas are foreigners is a despicable lie — the first written mention of Rohingyas in Rakhine dates back to 1799 — but Suu Kyi didn’t say that. She just murmured that “We have to be very clear about what the laws of citizenship are and who are entitled to them.” Meiktila, however, was different.
Read the rest: Suu Kyi can’t wait forever to defend minorities – The Japan Times.
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