{"id":27644,"date":"2013-04-15T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=27644"},"modified":"2015-05-06T12:53:14","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T11:53:14","slug":"disillusionment-and-disappointment-with-aung-san-suu-kyi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/04\/disillusionment-and-disappointment-with-aung-san-suu-kyi\/","title":{"rendered":"Disillusionment and Disappointment with Aung San Suu Kyi"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A still shot from Luc Besson\u2019s 2011 film The Lady.<\/p><\/div>\n

Luc Besson\u2019s 2011 film The Lady<\/i> is a heartfelt tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, a humble stay-at-home mother who returned to Burma only to become caught up in political turmoil. Her relationship with her husband and their ultimate sacrifice for the people of Burma plays out in performances by Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis, which touched hearts of audiences all over the world \u2014 not least in Burma, where love for \u201cthe Lady\u201d or \u201cAuntie Suu\u201d was unshakeable.<\/p>\n

Or so it seemed.<\/p>\n

Once a beacon of hope and the symbol of a nation\u2019s movement towards freedom, dignity and democracy, the narrative around Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be changing. People are no longer blinded by the light; now that Aung San Suu Kyi has gone from being a martyr under house arrest to a politician with a seat in the country\u2019s Parliament, things are looking very different indeed.<\/p>\n

Last month she was confronted<\/a> by farmers from villages in central Burma protesting against the opening of a copper mine in their area. She also shocked many by expressing her \u201cfondness\u201d for the army<\/a>; while she said it was because she still thought of them as \u201cher father\u2019s army,\u201d to most people in Burma the army cannot be separated from the oppressive military junta that has ruled them for decades.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most serious criticism of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is her failure to speak out against violent conflict within Burma, from the ongoing civil war between the Kachin ethnic minority and the government to sectarian violence in Rakhine State last year<\/a> and, most recently, in the central Burmese town of Meiktila.<\/p>\n

The fighting in Meiktila reveals to the world a disturbing continuation of anti-Muslim sentiment within Burma, similar to that seen in Rakhine State, where Muslim Rohingyas are still being persecuted and denied humanitarian aid<\/a>. Reports speak of a \u201c969 Campaign<\/a>\u201d against Muslims led by revered Buddhist monks, who are distributing anti-Muslim materials and encouraging boycotts of Muslim businesses. A video<\/a> has surfaced on Facebook showing the well-known Buddhist monk Wirathu giving an incendiary anti-Muslim speech, encouraging Burmese citizens to act in the name of \u201cnationalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Violence broke out in Meiktila after a disagreement between the Muslim owner of a gold shop and his Buddhist customers escalated. At least 20 people \u2014\u00a0many of them Muslims \u2014 lost their lives, and bodies were burnt in the streets<\/a>. A state of emergency<\/a> has been declared, and the military has moved in, but reports say that security personnel are doing very little to stop the persecution of Muslims.<\/p>\n

Throughout all this strife Aung San Suu Kyi has said little beyond urging<\/a> the Mandalay police chief to \u201cact in accordance to the law.\u201d For many Burmese watching the violence unfold, it is simply not enough.<\/p>\n

Shine, a Burmese Muslim, says he is most disappointed with her hesitance in taking a strong stand against these kinds of riots and violent clashes in the country. \u201cShe always used to talk about the \u2018rule of law,\u2019 \u2026 but when she got that position to be head of the Rule of Law Committee, what is she doing? What is her action?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n

Her failure to speak out strongly against the violence in Meiktila is made even more discomforting after the Euro-Burma Office circulated an email alleging that members of her party, the National League for Democracy, have been involved in \u201canti-Muslim disturbances.\u201d If these claims are true, it would be even more unacceptable for Aung San Suu Kyi not to take a strong stand against the perpetuation of violence against Muslims in Burma.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time she has disappointed her would-be supporters. When violence first broke out in Rakhine State between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya last year, Aung San Suu Kyi was also reluctant to take a strong stand. Writing for Al Jazeera English<\/i>, journalist Francis Wade speculated<\/a> on the reasons for her hesitation: speaking up for the Rohingya would anger and alienate many Burmese voters who do not see the Rohingya as an ethnic minority in the country but as illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n

Aung San Suu Kyi is no longer just a symbol, locked away under house arrest. Now that she is released and in Parliament, she seems to be playing politics like everyone else. It\u2019s an unwelcome revelation for many Burmese who have seen her as a staunch defender of human rights and dignity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a global symbol of democracy and human rights defender, she should be clear with her moral standpoint and speaking out against human rights abuses happening across the country,\u201d Shin Thant, a Burmese student, said. \u201cMorality should rule over political gain or loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion is divided as to Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s current popularity in Burma. Shine states with confidence that she has \u201calready lost more that half of her supporters in the country,\u201d but Shin Thant is not so sure: \u201cMany people still have hope that she could do something to develop the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, one cannot lay all the blame at Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s door. One woman all by herself was never going to be able to bring freedom and democracy to a country in the grip of a military dictatorship, and to expect her to do so would be unreasonable. Much of the current disappointment has also come from the way that she has \u2014 not by her own doing \u2014 become larger-than-life in the public consciousness after years of house arrest. In many ways, the Burmese people have seen her as a martyr of their cause, but now the martyr has re-entered public space and shown herself to be all too mortal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe category \u2018martyr\u2019 and the category \u2018politician\u2019 shouldn\u2019t be in a same person,\u201d said Phyo Win Latt, a board member of the Institute of Alternative Histories and Popular Culture, an organization that promotes the study of local histories, arts and culture in Burma and Southeast Asia. \u201cDemocracy needs a culture where it can thrive. It doesn\u2019t need a goddess or an angel of democracy. Too much energy and attention is being paid to Aung San Suu Kyi without nurturing liberal and democratic values.\u201d<\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

Kirsten Han is a workaholic multi-tasker: journalist, blogger, videographer, photographer, social media junkie, activist, teacher, traveler, amateur ukulele-strummer and expert chocolate-eater. Her main areas of interest are in social justice and human rights issues.<\/i><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 wagingnonviolence.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once a beacon of hope and the symbol of a nation\u2019s movement towards freedom, dignity and democracy, the narrative around Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be changing. People are no longer blinded by the light; now that Aung San Suu Kyi has gone from being a martyr under house arrest to a politician with a seat in the country\u2019s Parliament, things are looking very different indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}