Government forces have been perpetrating crimes against humanity for years in Myanmar, which rival those government forces have been perpetrating in South Sudan. Yet, while I suspect many of you have trending knowledge of the latter, I suspect few of you know anything of the former.
No doubt this stems primarily from your lack of interest. But it also stems from a double standard in media coverage, which can be explained in one name: Aung San Suu Kyi.
In short, far too many news organizations have a vested interest in propagating her fairy tale – namely, of the imprisoned human rights campaigner who becomes head of the government that once imprisoned her. Therefore, they are loath to report that Suu Kyi seems afflicted with a grandiose form of Stockholm Syndrome, which has her lording over crimes her oppressors could only dream of perpetrating against her.
I, however, never bought into that fairy tale. In fact, even before she became the de facto head of Myanmar’s government, I began questioning Suu Kyi’s commitment to the cause of universal human rights, which she once championed and even personified. This, notwithstanding the Nobel committee awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, which I dismissed as no more meritorious than the prize it awarded Barack Obama mere months into his presidency in 2009.
As it happened, Suu Kyi did not take long to begin vindicating my cynicism. I duly lamented in many commentaries, notably in “Aung San Suu Kyi Becoming Democratic Mascot of Myanmar’s Dictatorship,” March 28, 2013, “Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi Courting Totalitarian Power at the Expense of Democratic Principles,” September 14, 2015, “Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s Mandela, Is a Religious Bigot Who Condones Ethnic Cleansing,” March 30, 2016, and “Myanmar’s Rohingya Speak of Genocidal Terror,” December 13, 2016.
This is why I see no point in continuing to raise my still small voice to decry ongoing crimes against humanity in Myanmar. Incidentally, the same holds for South Sudan, where genocidal crimes are rivaling those that were perpetrated so infamously in Rwanda. I duly lamented in many commentaries. But, as this is about Myanmar, I will only cite the most recent: “South Sudan: Another Genocide Developing in Africa,” December 19, 2016.
Instead, I shall suffice to endorse the reporting of news organizations like the BBC, which stand out for showing more interest in the victims of this genocide than in treating Suu Kyi like a sacred cow.
A top UN official says ‘crimes against humanity’ are being committed by the military and police against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
In camps in Bangladesh, the BBC heard allegations from recently arrived Rohingya refugees that the [Myanmar] security forces had shot civilians, and abducted and raped young girls. …
[S]ince she won an election landslide 16 months ago, Ms. Suu Kyi has not done any interviews with journalists based in Myanmar – international or foreign – or held a meaningful press conference.
(BBC, March 10, 2017)
Except that her silence speaks volumes. No?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken them?
You promised the meek shall inherit the earth.
But, at this rate, none will be left to do so …
Related commentaries:
Buddhists religiously cleansing…
Suu Kyi becoming Democratic mascot…
Myanmar’s Mandela, Rohingya genocide…
Rohingya Speak…
South Sudan…
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