Plight of Rohingyas and world apathy

Politics is indeed the “Art of the Possible.” More often than not, it is therefore about compromise. But every once in a while, there comes a point where there can be no compromise. There comes a point when a politician has to call it as it is.
Myanmar (Burma) is still effectively run by its military. Its President Thein Sein is a former general. Elections are promised for later this year. However for years the country has persecuted its Muslim minorities. The largest group is the Rohingyas from the northwest of the country. These people have been subjected to treatment that is little short of genocide. There are some 900,000 to a million Rohingyas in Myanmar. They have been denied their civic rights on the basis that they are not Burmese citizens. Even though there have been Rohingyas living in Myanmar for many generations, they have been branded as “non-people.”
The appalling treatment to which these people have been subjected has been exposed as their country edges toward democracy. Attacked by Buddhist fanatics, often with the connivance of local police and army units, their homes have been destroyed, their businesses plundered and their women raped. Hundreds have been murdered in cold blood.
For “their own protection,” many of the Rohingyas have been herded into camps. International observers say these are more like prisons.
Meanwhile, Buddhist gangs are rampaging through what is left of their communities and mounting demonstrations demanding all Muslims be thrown out of the country. These bigots include the 969 group led by Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk whose violent rantings have nothing to do with Buddhism. Then there is another movement, whose prejudices are clear from its title — “Ma Ba Tha” stands for “Organization for the Protection of Race and Religion.” The religion it seeks to protect is certainly not Islam. The savage repression of the Rohingyas has driven thousands to seek to flee toward friendly Muslim states, Malaysia and Indonesia. Tragically many are trapped in jungle camps where the people-smugglers demand more money. They murder those Rohingyas who dispute the blackmail or whose relatives back in Myanmar cannot find the extra cash.
The Myanmar government bears direct responsibility for the unfolding tragedy of the Rohingyas. Yet who is calling it to account? UN and NGO reports, specifying the persecution and officially sanctioned brutality go unheeded. Myanmar is no longer being treated as a pariah state. Foreign investors are flooding in. Visiting political leaders glad-hand Thein and his cronies and praise the move toward democracy. But the photo opportunity they all want to have is with opposition leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Known as “The Lady”, she became an international hero when she endured years of prison and house arrest after the military refused to recognize the overwhelming victory of her National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1990 elections.
Given her much-admired heroic record in the face of persecution — hundreds of her supporters were murdered by the military and thousands imprisoned — it would be imagined that Suu Kyi would be front and center protesting the Rohingya persecution. But not a bit of it. Though privately she is supposed to deplore what is happening, in public she has refused call for justice and safety from persecution for all Myanmar’s Muslims.
The best she has managed is the craven announcement that she did not wish to comment for fear of inflaming tensions between the majority Buddhist community and Muslims. In short, this politician who has been honored with the highest international peace prize is not prepared to denounce the racist, Islamaphobic violence against the Rohingyas, for fear of promoting more violence. The one person who clearly had the political and indeed moral authority to call a halt to this appalling persecution has stayed silent. In doing so, she ought to have lost universal respect. She ought to have forfeited the high regard in which the world holds her.
Yet astonishingly ,“The Lady’s” international reputation is undiminished. Might this be because outside investors are eager to profit from Myanmar’s resource riches and large and undeveloped markets? As long as they can keep being photographed with a champion of peace, they think they have the necessary political and moral cover to carry on. How long will it be before Suu Kyi either makes a stand on behalf of the Rohingyas or is condemned for her cynical compromises, which she is clearly making for political purposes?
It is tragic to discover that a world figure so much admired for her courage and decency and refusal to compromise, in fact has feet of clay.