Last Thursday on Dec 1, the de facto leader of the Myanmar government, Aung San Suu Kyi, dismissed the mass killings of the Rohingya as mere fabrications. In a dialogue in Singapore, she chuckled when asked about the persecution of the Rohingya.
This should not come as a surprise. A year ago in November, she and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the Myanmar general election after years of fighting against the ruling military regime. To win the election, she spent years courting the Buddhist voters who consist of 90 per cent majority voters in Myanmar.
Suu Kyi’s reaction to the persecution of the Rohingya came despite the fact that many Rohingya had joined and volunteered in the campaign for her party in the last general election against the ruling military regime, which had been known to be anti-Rohingya. Suu Kyi and the Rohingya had the same motivation — to change the oppressive military regime. But, the Rohingya’s support for Suu Kyi had actually counted for nothing. On the contrary, it had actually hurt her chance to win the majority Buddhist votes, hence the election.
Anti-Rohingya and Islamophobia sentiment is widespread among the Myanmar people, exacerbated by Buddhist extremist groups such as the one called “969”. This group, headed by a Buddhist monk named Ashin Wirathu, spreads false fear that Muslims are overrunning the country to install syariah law and leave Buddhists a minority.
Previously, some anti-Rohingya groups have even tried to depict Suu Kyi as a “Muslim lover” that had apparently cost her some Buddhist voters’ support. This has put political pressure on Suu Kyi to further distance herself from the Rohingya’s plight. She probably knows that expressing support for the Rohingya now could cost her and her party millions from her voter base.
The Rohingya make up only one to two per cent of Myanmar residents. They can’t vote and they are not even considered citizens. This is due to the repressive 1982 Citizenship Law that hinders the Rohingya from becoming Myanmar citizens. This makes them ignorable, dispensable and vulnerable to attacks and persecution. They have no formal or organised representation in Myanmar to fight for them.
When Suu Kyi won the election, the Rohingya probably thought things were finally going to change. Suu Kyi, or “The Lady” as she is popularly known, would surely fight for them, or at least for human rights, and against persecution, or so they thought. She is a Nobel Peace Prize winner after all. But, they were wrong.
Suu Kyi needed to win the election, now she needs to hold on to power. She didn’t need the Rohingya; not before, not now. Now, after the general election, she needs to consolidate support from the Buddhist majority voters and the military. Political expediency necessitates her to put politics above moral principles. Deep down, she is a moral person.
However, perhaps she dares not displease 90 per cent of her voter base. If she fights for the Rohingya, this will be square with her moral principles, but she will lose many supporters and risk a potential coup d’etat. If she doesn’t, she will keep her political base. but lose her moral principles.
Suu Kyi is in a dilemma. This is perhaps why she said she won’t take sides.
What happens in Myanmar has affected its Asean neighbours. The recent “Clearance Operation” in Myanmar denied by Suu Kyi’s government as “ethnic cleansing” will cause tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighbouring countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia. Thousands of Rohingya, including women and children have, died at sea trying to flee Myanmar. Thousands more will die trying to get here.
But, it is not the outcome of the flood of refugees to our shores that concerns us most. It is its cause, which is the mass killing of a targeted ethnic group, including its innocent women and children, that gives us the visceral abhorrence. And, it is the disproportionate retaliation of heavily armed government soldiers with helicopter gunships against the minority alleged criminals armed with wooden clubs, knives and spears that turn our stomach.
If we do and say nothing against this rape and raid on moral and humanitarian principles, we condone the blatant atrocity with impunity done on our fellow human beings. Mass killing with impunity brutalises society and sets the new norm for the world that we live in. We shall not accept or turn a blind eye on this lest we can never look at ourselves in the mirror with respect and content.
Malaysians are deeply concerned by the human rights violation, particularly involving extra-judicial mass killings around the world and in Myanmar, and they are not afraid to voice it out.
Malaysians have voiced out concern before on similar humanitarian issues, for example with what has happened in Palestine, and now they are not afraid to voice out their concern again with what is happening closer to home in Myanmar.
A few days ago, a spokesperson for the Myanmar President’s Office, Zaw Htay, warned Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Malaysian people not to interfere in Myanmar’s affairs. Earlier, Htay refuted a report by Human Rights Watch that states 430 buildings, including homes and mosques, in Rohingya villages were burned and hundreds of Rohingya were killed by Myanmar soldiers in the last few weeks in Rakhine State.
In the face of the incredulous denial, Htay later said the number of buildings burned was actually 155, as if the lower number would make it less wrong or more acceptable.
Recently, Human Rights Watch released satellite images showing proof that 1,200 homes had been razed in Rohingya villages over the last several weeks, further contradicting Htay’s statement. In the last six weeks, hundreds of Rohingya have been killed, many burned.
Both Htay and Suu Kyi seem to have grossly understated the situation of the Rohingya.
On Sunday, Malaysians’ concerns on the Rohingya’s persecution manifested in a rally in Kuala Lumpur, attended by tens of thousands of Malaysians led by the prime minister.
Contrary to Htay’s statement, voicing out concern in domestic protest is hardly an interference or intervention. It is perhaps the least that should be done, given what has happened.
People have the right to voice concerns over what is happening in a neighbouring country that affects them. If this voicing of concern still does not work, perhaps actual intervention is justified.
Mass extra-judicial killing of a targeted ethnic group is murder; it is textbook genocide. It is legally and morally wrong. Htay should not hide behind the non-intervention argument to conceal the atrocities and killings of a minority group. He should not abuse the non-intervention pact to effectively attempt to issue a gag order to neighbouring countries for speaking up against mass murder or genocide.
And, Suu Kyi should not evade and shirk from addressing this concern and neither should she put political expediency above moral principles. After all, she is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the current de facto leader of the Myanmar government. Maybe she could not have done anything before when she was not in power, but she can now, and the whole world is watching. It is never too late to do the right thing.
Isham Jalil is president of Malaysian Volunteers. He has years of experience in politics and public service, and holds a master’s degree in politics, economics and law from Harvard University