BANGKOK: Burma's pro-democracy leader, human rights advocate and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been slammed by refugee advocates and Malaysia for remaining silent as thousands of Rohingya Muslims remains adrift at sea.
"Where is Aung San Suu Kyi the so-called world champion?" asked Malaysia's deputy home minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar.
"What is she doing? Why is she silent on Rohingya issues?"
Refugee advocates have criticised Ms Suu Kyi for failing to speak up for Rohingya, described by the United Nations as among the world's most persecuted people, as the humanitarian crisis spiralled out of control across the Bay of Bengal and waters off Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia over the past two weeks.
"Silence is not remaining neutral. It's giving a green light to those who want violence, keeping this climate of impunity and insecurity," said Chris Lewa. of the Rohingya advocacy group, The Arakan Project.
Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, said: "It's time for Aung San Suu Kyi to end her silence on the plight of Rohingya."
Ms Suu Kyi, now Myanmar's opposition leader, has been criticised in the past for failing to use her international standing as an icon for democracy to speak up for 1.3 million Rohingya living in Myanmar's western Rakhine state where they are denied citizenship and basic rights, despite having lived there for centuries.
Myanmar's quasi-military government claims Rohingya are illegal Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh.
More than 120,000 Rohingya are living in squalid camps after being forced from their homes by Buddhist mobs.
An estimated 25,000 of them paid human traffickers to make the perilous journey across the Bay of Bengal in the first three months of this year, part of the largest movement of people in the region since the fall of south Vietnam 40 years ago.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Security and International Studies in Bangkok, said it is understandable that Ms Suu Kyi is "hedging her bets" because her National League for Democracy will need to rely on votes from the Buddhist majority at elections slated for November.
"In view of Myanmar people's deep dislike [of Rohingya], Suu Kyi can hardly afford to speak up for Rohingya in an election year when she has ambitions for the highest office," he said.
Penny Green, professor of law and globalisation at Queen Mary University of London, said Ms Suu Kyi once held enormous moral and political capital and had the chance to challenge the "vile racism and Islamophobia which characterises Myanmar's political and social discourse".
"If we wait for Ms Suu Kyi to speak out against this genocide, there will be no Rohingya," she wrote in an article published in the Bangkok Post.
Since Ms Suu Kyi was released from home detention in 2010 she has repeatedly referred to the need to respect "rule of law" and non-violence, saying both Buddhists and Rohingya in Arakan have engaged in violence.
In December 2014 the Washington Post quoted Ms Suu Kyi as saying "I am not silent because of political calculation. I am silent because whoever's side I stand on there will be more blood. If I speak up for human rights they [Rohingya] will only suffer."
On Monday, amid growing outrage over south-east Asian nations pushing boatloads of Rohingya and Bangladeshi back out to sea, Ms Suu Kyi's party urged Myanmar's government to give Rohingya Muslims the chance to get citizenship.
But it was left to spokesman Nyan Win who told reporters that "if they are not accepted [as citizens], they cannot just be sent onto rivers . . . can't be pushed out to sea".
"They are humans. I just see them as humans who are entitled to human rights."
Ms Suu Kyi could not be reached for comment.
"Where is Aung San Suu Kyi the so-called world champion?" asked Malaysia's deputy home minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar.
"What is she doing? Why is she silent on Rohingya issues?"
Refugee advocates have criticised Ms Suu Kyi for failing to speak up for Rohingya, described by the United Nations as among the world's most persecuted people, as the humanitarian crisis spiralled out of control across the Bay of Bengal and waters off Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia over the past two weeks.
"Silence is not remaining neutral. It's giving a green light to those who want violence, keeping this climate of impunity and insecurity," said Chris Lewa. of the Rohingya advocacy group, The Arakan Project.
Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, said: "It's time for Aung San Suu Kyi to end her silence on the plight of Rohingya."
Ms Suu Kyi, now Myanmar's opposition leader, has been criticised in the past for failing to use her international standing as an icon for democracy to speak up for 1.3 million Rohingya living in Myanmar's western Rakhine state where they are denied citizenship and basic rights, despite having lived there for centuries.
Myanmar's quasi-military government claims Rohingya are illegal Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh.
More than 120,000 Rohingya are living in squalid camps after being forced from their homes by Buddhist mobs.
An estimated 25,000 of them paid human traffickers to make the perilous journey across the Bay of Bengal in the first three months of this year, part of the largest movement of people in the region since the fall of south Vietnam 40 years ago.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Security and International Studies in Bangkok, said it is understandable that Ms Suu Kyi is "hedging her bets" because her National League for Democracy will need to rely on votes from the Buddhist majority at elections slated for November.
"In view of Myanmar people's deep dislike [of Rohingya], Suu Kyi can hardly afford to speak up for Rohingya in an election year when she has ambitions for the highest office," he said.
Penny Green, professor of law and globalisation at Queen Mary University of London, said Ms Suu Kyi once held enormous moral and political capital and had the chance to challenge the "vile racism and Islamophobia which characterises Myanmar's political and social discourse".
"If we wait for Ms Suu Kyi to speak out against this genocide, there will be no Rohingya," she wrote in an article published in the Bangkok Post.
Since Ms Suu Kyi was released from home detention in 2010 she has repeatedly referred to the need to respect "rule of law" and non-violence, saying both Buddhists and Rohingya in Arakan have engaged in violence.
In December 2014 the Washington Post quoted Ms Suu Kyi as saying "I am not silent because of political calculation. I am silent because whoever's side I stand on there will be more blood. If I speak up for human rights they [Rohingya] will only suffer."
On Monday, amid growing outrage over south-east Asian nations pushing boatloads of Rohingya and Bangladeshi back out to sea, Ms Suu Kyi's party urged Myanmar's government to give Rohingya Muslims the chance to get citizenship.
But it was left to spokesman Nyan Win who told reporters that "if they are not accepted [as citizens], they cannot just be sent onto rivers . . . can't be pushed out to sea".
"They are humans. I just see them as humans who are entitled to human rights."
Ms Suu Kyi could not be reached for comment.
Since Aung San Suu Kyi has come out of house arrest, she has not exactly excelled herself in any way becoming of a Nobel laureate. I say if she was such an icon under house arrest, please by all means put her back under house arrest, to live out her life and she can become famous once again. Her silence is deafening.
Posted by Robin on May 22, 2015 13:43