Our Beloved Leader

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,

There has hardly been a single day on television news channels without showing the recycled video clips and images of Rohingya refugees running away from the Myanmar border into Bangladesh to escape the persecution of Myanmar army. The iconic photos of refugees and burning villages appeared on newspaper and magazines. The whole world watched these clips and images with rage and frustration. The international media and Muslim countries are condoning Myanmar government especially Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader, for being quiet about this.

UN reports also mentioned the execution of teachers, mass rape, children and adult had their throat slit in front of families, pregnant women beaten and babies thrown into fire and so on. They accused Daw Aung San Suu kyi of denial of all these “well documented evidence”.

I am against any atrocity committed to fellow humans for whatever reason. However I am quite sceptical about those news media even though the evidence seems to be overwhelming. We have to ask who documented these and how did they get the evidence?  The media people only interview  Bengali refugees. They never spoke the Rakhine and other ethnic minorities who equally suffered from the atrocities committed by ARSA ( Arakanese Rohingya Salvation Army ). There never was a single video clip of interview with Myanmar or Rakhine people. It has been a one sided story.

There is undeniable evidence that the recent attacks were started from the Bengali terrorists ( ARSA ) and Myanmar people had to flee for their lives too. Recently several bodies of Hindu people ( Rakhine native ) who were killed by the Bengali terrorists have been exhumed in Rakhine. But Myanmar people are not being listened to, or I wonder, If the world media are really interested in the reality.You would be forgiven for assuming that the western media and UN are the puppets of the big rich Islam countries. We have Myanmar media and Ministry of Information to blame for their very late and little response partly due to very limited resources and man power. 

The viewers are now saturated with the words like “ethnic cleansing”, “textbook example of genocide”, “and crime against humanity”, “atrocities committed by Myanmar army” and so on. They instantly blame Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is  the head of the elected government. She has been portrayed as the most villainous woman in the world media. She is the bad woman now. School children and villagers as well as the parliamentarians and senators are talking of this cruel woman. People burnt her in effigy and Bengali people asked their kids to urinate on her photos.

If you look back as recently as 2015 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi , following the release from her house arrest, was praised by the whole world for her courage and resistance to the military dictators. She was given Noble Peace Prize and many other innumerable awards and honors from various institutions across the globe. She was idolized by the media (mainly western). There was red carpet wherever she went. All world leaders greeted her with affection and sincerity. She has very busy itinerary attending various award receiving ceremonies

They then called her the exemplar of quiet courage and determination. They called her champion of peaceful path towards a better world. They called her independence fighter. The world media put her on a pedestal and made her a Human –rights icon.

Then the fall from the grace. The Bengali crisis (more widely known as Rohingya crisis) destroyed the iconic state of the lady overnight.

Now they are blaming her for not admitting the Rohingya people and ethnic cleansing, for her indifference and silence on the issue. They blamed her for not doing enough to deflect the global criticism. They all know very well that she did not organize the killings since she has no control over the military.

No one is pointing any finger at the Myanmar army.  Obviously Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a convenient scapegoat. After all she won the Noble Peace Prize and she is supposed to be the Mrs Right for the world!

In realty she is deep in a political quagmire. We do not know if there are certain unknown dark forces influencing and restraining her from being very bold and decisive. We do not know what the exact relationship with her and the army is. She is in a very complicated and difficult position to say anything which is going to damage the rapport with the military leaders. After all she needs the army to rebuild the country.

She finally decided to stand with her people and the army at the expense of international support and applause. That decision delights Myanmar people who are more concerned about the welfare of their own internal affairs than to listen to the international outcries.

So they decidedly stand with her.

Most British institutions and universities (e.g. LSE, Unison) who have awarded prizes to her are now reviewing or suspending their honors. People are saying that EU should also revoke the Sakharov prize.

Let them take their awards (over 140 of them) back. Let them strip her off the Noble peace prize.

She did not stay under house arrest for decades and endured the brutality of military in order to win Noble prize or any other prizes. She made the sacrifice to help her country and her people. She did this to help Myanmar people towards a better world. She did this for the national reconciliation and political reform of the country. She is not obliged to please the international demands because they have idolized her and offered awards.

They all gave her those honors and awards. Now they want them back. How pathetic? They reminded me off certain naughty kids who would give their toys to others and then ask them back when they fall out later.

UK was one of her main admirers due to long association with her and family ties. Guardian, among other British papers, could not stop praising her for her achievements and qualities. But since the Rakhine crisis Guardian and BBC have been denouncing her and doing their best to help her fall from the grace.

In fact it is the British who introduced these Bengali people into our country in the first place under colonial rule. They deserve the blame as much as anyone else for what has been happening in Rakhine. Moreover the British historically has always favored subcontinent Asians (Indians, Bengalis and so on) over Myanmar (Burmese) people during their colonial rule. Myanmar people were regarded as the lowest class of their colonial servants.

It is a little respite that certain big guns such as Russia, India and China are more sympathetic to this very fragile country.

It does not matter to her if she was awarded 147 prizes or stripped her off all of them afterwards. She still remains the national leader for Myanmar people. That is all it matters.

We never had such a leader in Myanmar like her in recent history. I do not think that there ever will be another one like her in future. Myanmar people feel that they had better hang on to her even the whole world has turned against her. They suffered enough under military oppression over 50 years and they certainly do not want to go back there.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is not a Saint and neither has she the magic wand to make everything all right instantly. She has not got a perfect government either (as many critics pointed out). She may not be making the wisest decisions for this present crisis. But one thing is certain. She is absolutely devoted to Myanmar. Her love for her people and country is deep rooted and genuine. I whole heartedly admire her for that.

The world may look down upon her. But we the Myanmar ( Burmese )  people  are very proud of her. We were very proud of her when she was at her zenith. We are still very proud even when she is going out of favour in the world..

We all believe that she is striving for what is best for Myanmar people. She has boldly said “My country is my world”.

We stand with her.