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AUNG SAN SUU KYI: THE WORST PERSON IN BURMA

October 27, 2012

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http://www.dictatorwatch.org/prsuukyiworstperson.html

Aung San Suu Kyi is the worst person in Burma.

What a shocking statement! How could I say such a thing, about The Lady, Mother Suu, Aunty Suu, the revered Nobel laureate, and the leader of all peace-loving Burmese?

Why wouldn't I pick one of the many Burma Army soldiers in Kachin State, who kidnap women from villages and fields, and take them to their units to be gang-raped every night? (When the women are so broken that even a rapist can no longer get aroused, they are executed.)

Or what about the many, many Rakhine madmen, who so hate the Rohingya people that they want to kill every single one of them, every man, woman and child? (The Rakhine now have their own version of Kristallnacht. They are imitating the Nazi Party's series of pogroms in 1938, whereby one Jewish township after another was attacked.)

And then there is of course Senior General Than Shwe, dark overlord of everything that is happening in Burma, and who must be laughing himself silly at the crimes against humanity, and the fact that there is no international outrage.

But no, I choose Suu Kyi.

The reason for this is that, while she isn't raping and killing people herself, she is nevertheless directly responsible for the carnage because she is the only person in Burma who has the ability to stop it, or at a minimum to reduce its scale.

Suu Kyi is the only person with real moral authority over the Burmans, of which the Army and police are comprised, and the Rakhines. Were she to call loudly and repeatedly for the attacks to end, including for the Rohingya to be protected and for the Burma Army to withdraw from Kachin areas, the violence would subside. (She should ask to speak on national television, and make just such an announcement. If refused permission, she should make a statement to foreign media.)

Equally importantly, the International Community would no longer be able to avoid the subject. Now, the United States, Europe, and the United Nations are buying the regime's argument, which both the international and Burma media are parroting, that the conflict is fundamentally two-sided, that two large mobs are attacking each other. This is a false equivalence. When all the townships that are burning, and refugees, are from one side, this is not an equal fight. Moreover, when renowned activists, Buddhist monks, and local students use language reminiscent of Nazi propaganda, something truly catastrophic is underway. Rakhine and Burman racists are essentially seeking their own "final solution."

The International Community is using Suu Kyi's silence as an excuse to disregard the real nature of the conflict. If she spoke out, they would also be forced to condemn the atrocities, and even to support action such as the introduction of a peacekeeping force.

But, she won't do it, which is why I believe she is the worst person in the country. She has the power to save lives, but she refuses to help. She apparently does not view Rohingya lives, or Kachin, as worth saving.

This week, while the ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State raged, Suu Kyi actually talked to reporters, but her subject was how the Constitution needs to be amended. Why? She cannot run for President in 2015, if it is not. She is focused on a longer-term issue, and which is important to her personally, instead of the fires that are burning out of control.

According to Suu Kyi, the acts against the Kachin and Rohingya are not even human rights violations. Please view the images in the following link. They are of Kachin villagers who were the victims of a Burma Army artillery strike. Scenes like this are widespread in Burma, but they are rarely photographed. I ask you, are they human rights violations or not?

http://jinghpawkasa.blogspot.com/2012/10/blog-post_3815.html

Suu Kyi has stated that she has no power, that she is a lowly MP from a Party that has only a few seats in Parliament. However, she gladly accepts the world's highest awards, and public adulation, as the country's real leader.

She can't have it both ways. She does have great power: The power of her voice. If she declines to use it, it would be best if she leaves politics altogether and retires to her house on the lake.

There has already been talk of her legacy. Let's not forget the facts. She threw away the results of the democratic 1990 election. She then ended her boycott of the fraudulent 2010 election (by participating in last year's by-election), thereby giving it legitimacy. And, she took an oath to abide by the completely undemocratic 2008 Constitution.

Furthermore, she will not speak out for the rights of Burma's ethnic minorities. Her actions even ended the call for a U.N. investigation of the regime's human rights abuses. Worst of all, she is now ignoring, and thereby enabling, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and the incitement of widespread racism.

History will remember Suu Kyi as the the leader of a pro-democracy movement who changed her mind and surrendered, who ignored barbaric violence, who helped split a nation, and who opened it to rapacious corporate development. This will be her real legacy. This is why she is indeed the worst person in Burma.