Suu Kyi's kangaroo parliament


My attention has been drawn by the report that the lower house of the parliament in Myanmar has passed a motion rejecting a statement by the United Nations human rights envoy to the Southeast Asian nation that was critical of the government’s handling of security issues and human rights.
 
Such a motion passed by a parliament that has been behaving like a kangaroo parliament to evade serious charges of crimes against humanity should not surprise anyone. For too long, the regimes - military and civilian alike -  that have had ruled Myanmar have been committing genocidal crimes against the Rohingya people and  have been protective of their national agenda for that eliminationist policy. They have never embraced diversity and religious pluralism in an artificial country of more than a hundred ethnic groups that was drawn by the British Raj. And the way things are moving, there is little hope that such a calculus is going to change in a foreseeable future.
 
It is no accident that the Myanmar's lower house of parliament is upset with Yanghee Lee's genuine complaints against the NLD government that no progress has been made in the human rights front and that without "real and discernible progress on human rights" Myanmar cannot expect lifting of the UN monitoring process. (Forget the harsh reality that such UN observations or monitoring have done nothing to sober the savage and rogue behavior of Myanmar government.) Suu Kyi's Myanmar has not made an iota of difference in improving human rights of minorities, esp. Muslims of the Arakan state. It did not allow and continues to disallow a fact-finding UN mission to investigate charges of atrocities perpetrated  by the government security forces against the Rohingyas. Its attitude will not modify with carrots but requires hard sticks.
 
For too long the civilized world has been fooled by Suu Kyi. It is time to call a spade a spade and punish the regime where it hurts to save the lives of millions of minorities that call Myanmar their ancestral home. Otherwise, it is shame on our generation for failing in this vital task!
 

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