My Comments on the WP letter to editor


The Washington Post has posted this weekend an apologia from an ex-US Marine-cum-Asian expert  who works for the Brookings Institution. Here below is my comment on the subject, which I sent to the newspaper.
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Lex Reiffel is in denial and his letter to the editor is nothing more than an apologia for Suu Kyi. As Dr. Maung Zarni, a Burmese exile, has written in his blog, the "victims of genocides can't wait until she [Suu Kyi] completes her consolidation of power.   She is a pathetic politician who could not muster enough compassion and will to even visit IDP camps in Rakine - about 1 hr by flight from Rangoon [Yangon], but has time and energy to be travelling 10,000 miles to collect all kinds of human rights and humanitarian awards."
That sums up Suu Kyi's priorities! It is no accident that she has been criminally silent about the genocidal crimes by Myanmar security forces against the Rohingyas of Myanmar in the last two months, which has resulted in the death of more than 500 Rohingyas, let alone destruction of tens of villages. The UN and human rights groups have long called this ethnic cleansing.
I have noted in my articles and blog, Suu Kyi remains a hardcore Buddhist nationalist whose intention is to keep Myanmar a purely Buddhist state (not different from the goal of the Buddhist fascist organization Ma Ba Tha). As such, in this national project of wiping out Muslim heritage and culture, she is not a silent partner, but an active promoter of the case.
When she came to London School of Economics in London in June 2012 - 2 weeks after the first bout of genocidal violence against the Rohingya broke out in Rakhine, she refused to address the issue. In Geneva when she held the first ever press conference in Europe a few days prior to coming to London in June 2012 (since she was released from house arrest in Nov 2010), she was asked by a journalist "do you know if Rohingyas are Myanmar citizens?"  Her answer was, "I don't know". Far from Lex's hopeful note, Dr. Zarni believes that  the military generals WILL NEVER LET her consolidate her power as "they use her as the main shield in dealing with international criticism."  "More than that,  she is a pretty face of an ugly beast," writes Zarni.  I agree with him.

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