Sunday, November 04, 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi Sells Out

A news report says that Aung San Suu Kyi refuses to use her "moral leadership" to intervene in the massacre of Rohingya Muslims by Rakhine Buddhists in west Myanmar.

What a sell out of humanitarian principle by someone who should know better.

Suu Kyi is further quoted by the BBC:
"I am urging tolerance but I do not think one should use one's moral leadership, if you want to call it that, to promote a particular cause without really looking at the sources of the problems"
Huh?

Tolerance she says.  How can someone who has suffered under the brutality of the despots that run Burma merely offer such a hollow and dismissive excuse?

She is nothing short of a denialist with this kind of nonsensical position.

The truth behind Suu Kyi's position is that she does not want to unsettle the massive Buddhist base that supports her political ambitions.  The murderous Rakhine Buddhists are a significant part of her support and, in effect, if she criticizes their oppression of Rohingya Muslims she would put her ambitions in jeopardy.

The lame excuse that she cannot back either side is laughable.  Her silence backs the Rakhine and the despot state that has the Rohingya in internment/concentration camps.

Suu Kyi knows the issues on the table.  No-one in Burma can claim to be ignorant of the systematic oppression that the Rohingya face.

Suu Kyi is not merely being disingenuous in these terms.  She is in fact perpetuating the myth that there are unknown causes that describe the violence.

And for this reason it is hard not to see Suu Kyi as part of the systematic oppression of Rohingya Muslims.

In the past I have supported the democratic ideals of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma.  I did so not because it was the popular thing to do but because it was the right thing to do.

But now her position to be selective about her democratic ideals is untenable and undemocratic.

Standing against the slaughter and systematic oppression of the Rohingya is the right thing to do - denying that there is a problem with some flimsy political excuse is not only wrong it is immoral and seriously detracts from her worth to speak on behalf of democratic ideals in Burma or anywhere else.

She should be shamed and lambasted for selling out, and so soon too.

Onward!

Ps. See also "Muslims fleeing sectarian violence in Burma drown as crisis deepens" (Observer, November 4). 

4 comments:

Tony said...

"Huh?" is right broer. Typically ambivalent political bleating that says one thing at the same time as saying another thing, without saying anything at all really. We see the back flip on their own morality, yet they think the bullshit flies with us.

This just confirms my view (that I have no doubt spouted a few times before) that these bastards say anything to retain their power base.

Maybe we should send the Arch over to give her a klap.

Cheers
Tony

Ridwan said...

Hi Tony:

I am surprised that the Arch has not said anything yet. Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and she is lost for conviction.

How much difference is there in her position and that of the apologists for the apartheid regime who refused to take a position on sanctions?

It did not take her too long to join the usual elite lackeys that say a whole lot and do what is in their own interests anyway.

At least it took Mandela more than a year to sell out.

This heffa is already past the Rhodes-Mandela stage in selling out.

Thanks for your comment boet - ride that green and black beast for me too.

When you get to this side of the delusion I will introduce you to a boet who went for a jog and almost took his ass out when he hit a pothole.

He said he was almost hit by a truck in the process.

You read that right. He jogged into a pothole.

Geez hey.

I told him they got spandex women at my gym and he is joining today ;0)

Peace,
Ridi

Kweli said...

Ten bucks Suu Kyi got a call from the State Dept. shortly before the BBC interview and was primed on how not to irk the base.

She's our (wo)man in Burma now.

Damn.

I laughed when I read the title of this post.

Ridwan said...

Hey there Kweli:

I bet you right brother. She is their (wo)man in Burma now - shoring up investment and contracts for 'development' projects.

She has not reached this position on her own but it is a slippery slope hey.

All of this tragedy just can't be swept aside.

I was watching CNN when an 'expert' explained that Suu Kyi is in a difficult place so folks must understand.

I guess those being killed should really just more reasonable.

Scratch another hero off the list is my thinking - her silence is part of the murder now.

Trust you are well boet,
Ridwan