Wednesday, October 30, 2013

A simple "yes" would have done it

Got this message in my mail after lunch: "Rocky, would you consider reproducing this piece in your Blog?  It is very telling and a blight on the supposed champion of Burmese freedom. Besides winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Aung San Suu Kyi now also wins the prize for bigotry."
I read the article and said  "yes" right away! Some things are clear as day ...
Here's the article:
How can Aung San Suu Kyi – a Nobel Peace Prize winner – fail to condemn anti-Muslim violence?
By David Blair World Last updated: October 24th, 2013
I never thought I would write this, but Aung San Suu Kyi sent a shiver down my spine when she appeared on the Today programme this morning. Her equivocal attitude towards the violence suffered by Burma’s Muslim minority was deeply disturbing.
I’m sorry to say that she employed the standard devices used by people who want to play down – and avoid condemning – something utterly reprehensible.
The first common tactic is to draw a parity between perpetrators and victims. Suu Kyi duly said: “This is what the world needs to understand: that the fear is not just on the side of the Muslims, but on the side of the Buddhists as well.”
She went on: “Yes, Muslims have been targeted, but also Buddhists have been subjected to violence. But there’s fear on both sides and this is what is leading to all these troubles and we would like the world to understand: that the reaction of the Buddhists is also based on fear.”
Hang on a moment. Muslims are only 4 per cent of Burma’s population. The Rohingya Muslims, who have borne the brunt of the violence, are a smaller minority still. The idea that we should place the fears of the 90 per cent Buddhist majority alongside those of a small and vulnerable minority – and one that has been “targeted” for violence – is pretty extraordinary.
Suu Kyi then goes further by saying: “You, I think, will accept that there’s a perception that Muslim power, global Muslim power, is very great and certainly that is the perception in many parts of the world and in our country too.”
Global Muslim power? How powerful can a 4 per cent minority be, particularly when the Rohingya are explicitly forbidden from becoming citizens of Burma and therefore have no political weight whatever? What is Suu Kyi trying to say? That Buddhists in Burma are so terrified by “global Muslim power” that we shouldn’t be surprised when they turn on Muslims at home?
Suu Kyi also employs the second common device, namely to change the subject to something irrelevant. When Mishal Husain asked her to accept that 140,000 Muslims have been displaced by violence, Suu Kyi replied: “I think there are many, many Buddhists who have also left the country for various reasons. This is a result of our sufferings under a dictatorial regime.”
This is also completely irrelevant. If many Buddhist Burmese fled during the era of military dictatorship, this has no bearing whatever on the plight of the 140,000 Muslims who live in refugee camps today.
Suu Kyi then used the third standard tactic: uttering words of condemnation so general as to be meaningless. Asked to condemn a notorious Buddhist hate-preacher who compares Muslims to “dogs”, she said only: “I condemn hate of any kind.”
And then Mishal Husain asked her bluntly: “Do you condemn the anti-Muslim violence?” Suu Kyi replied: “I condemn any movement that is based on hatred and extremism.”
How could a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize fail to answer that question with a simple “Yes”?
ENDS
About David Blair
David Blair became Chief Foreign Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in November 2011. He previously worked for the paper as Diplomatic Editor, Africa Correspondent and Middle Correspondent.

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:54 pm

    This Su Kyi get Nobel prize because she is puppet of western country. Actually she never care how many people die in Myanmar as long as she elected as president.

    Anyway who care Nobel Prize award, even the donkey can get this award..

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  2. Anonymous6:35 pm

    Nobel prize winners are politically awarded towards this present century.. How can a president of the united states of amerikah, gets one without even contributing to his own country just yet, albeit ascending to the throne of the UN , just by winning the presidency yesterday.? There are many awards awarded to dumb fools by just any reasons on earth by any dumbfounded organisations.There are even dumb awards for the worst dressed and the most stupidest songs given to individuals in the media industries. Gone were the days awards given to the very most deserving without political interventions. For Su Kyi, I would like her to intervene with her own government to stop half baked unskilled refugees to my country, those refugees with the status of "political refugees", those drunkards and lazy workers to use Malaysia as their source of easy income. How easy can they get that "political refugees status", perhaps the UN should look into this. That auntie in Myanmar has lost her touch with human rights, and the real politik of the world. She earned her freedom by selling her ideologies.She should be strip of that award. Hogwash.!

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  3. I believe most of us thought Aung San Suu Kyi would be the first person in Myanmar to voice out the Burmese Muslim massacre but she never did. One word best to describe her - could it be hypocrite or irony/ironic?

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  4. Anonymous8:09 pm

    How ironic if we put it in the Malaysian context where the majority bumiputeras are sowed with the idea that minority Chinese are out to take over the country. You are highlighting the obvious silliness of this idea in Myanmar but at the same time promoting it as a valid one at home.

    Pening kepala aku.

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  5. Anonymous8:30 pm

    When Suu Kyi voice his words,you can give conclusion that this auntie is 20 years behind in term of social intellectual and thinking.

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  6. Anonymous8:55 pm

    It's the same type of language we hear BN use when justifying racially divisive government programs.

    Anyway, who cares what happens in Burma/Myanmar?

    We have our own problems here in Malaysia and until we can fix our own racial problems, it's hypocritical to point fingers at others who are doing the same.

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  7. Anonymous10:37 pm

    Lee Kuan Yew once gave a piece about her, "Aung San Suu Kyi is both part of a problem and a solution".

    The great Lee himself wouldn't trust this lady so much.

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  8. Rocky.
    We are one of the beautiful country in the world.I can agree.

    We are the riches country in the world.Susah sikit.
    I think the write thought Singapore is still part of Malaysia.

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  9. This women has shown her true colours. Shame on her so called Nobel prize winner talks like a Shaitan who condones the killing of minorities . All she dreams of is to be the next president of Burma hope the Generals keep a lid on her . Poooot thueeeee !

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