Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her recently elected government face mounting pressure from international rights groups to recognise stateless Muslim minorities residing in Myanmar. Despite her party’s landslide victory last November and her swift move to power as State Counsellor, improving her country’s human rights record is one challenge The Lady has not yet overcome.
When Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), prevailed against a decade-long military autocracy in last year’s democratic elections, the international community responded by easing economic sanctions.
The anticipation for a change in the country’s treatment of minorities was met with disappointment however when Ms Suu Kyi advised the incoming United States Ambassador to Myanmar to refrain from using the term ‘Rohingya’. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate says her government will not recognise the name, singing the same tune as its military predecessors.
Former Australian Ambassador to Myanmar, Trevor Wilson, said it was unrealistic to expect The Lady to respond otherwise.
“Aung San Suu Kyi is not unsympathetic to the problems of the Rohingya but the NLD policy and her thinking is very close to the national consensus that the Rohingya are immigrants from Bengal,” he said.
“The pressure to make this a high priority or to make this some kind of test of the Myanmar government is an unrealistic expectation, but it’s important the international community maintain pressure on the new government to ensure policy change occurs but an early solution to the issue is unlikely.”
comprise nearly two per cent of the country's predominantly Buddhist population but are excluded from the official list of ethnic minorities and remain without citizenship - denied freedom of movement, access to education and the ownership of property.
International attention grew last May when a was found adrift in the Andaman sea en route to Malaysia. In the wake of the crisis, Ms Suu Kyi was criticised for her silence, seen by some as a political move to harness support from the Buddhist majority.
When he heard the news, President of the Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia, Anwar Shar, said he was shocked to hear of Ms Suu Kyi’s rejection of the term.
“We regarded her highly in respect to human rights and justice. We expected and continue to expect a real change from the elected NLD led government,” he said.
“We are hopeful that change will come one day with the growing international pressure. When justice prevails, we will see a real change towards Rohingya and minorities but we would appreciate the action of Aung San Suu Kyi on the term 'Rohingya'.”
The growing restlessness among nationalists and extremist monks who gathered earlier this month to demand an official denouncement of the US Embassy’s reference to the ‘Rohingya’, complicates the situation further. Amidst international pressure, Ms Suu Kyi will need to tread carefully to avoid confrontation in her country where religion and politics can so colourfully blend.
is a Sydney-based freelance writer.
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