Suu Kyi can do little to end pogrom

The intensifying conflict in Myanmar has drawn the attention of the world to that troubled country and to the Rohingya. But as the world makes noise, the complexities of the fighting remain foggy.

The aftermath of the military operation in the northwestern region of Rakhine, targeting Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army has spilled over into Bangladesh, causing a humanitarian crisis.

The UN says almost 400,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh. Rakhine residents say more than 1,000 people have been killed in what Al Jazeera describes as “a campaign of murder, torture, arson and mass rape by Myanmar security forces and Buddhist mobs. The army puts the number at 400.

The military is accused of targeting the mostly Muslim Rohingya, with a top UN official calling the campaign a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

KILLINGS

Prominent leaders have spoken out against the killings. The Dalai Lama has said Buddha would have helped the Rohingya. Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu said he was “breaking his vow to remain silent on public affairs out of profound sadness over the killings”.

One person has been singled out for special criticism — Myanmar’s leader and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

“If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep,” Bishop Tutu told Suu Kyi in a letter.

For people seeking to understand the Rohingya issue, the obsessive focus on Suu Kyi does not help clear up the conflict.

Who are the Rohingya? What do they want? What can Suu Kyi do about it? Suu Kyi is the de facto leader of Myanmar, but who really holds power, and how does this influence what she can do?

HISTORICAL REASONS

The more than a million Rohingya in Rakhine have lived in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar for centuries. But for historical reasons, officials do not recognise them as one of the 135 ethnic groups. A 1982 law denied them citizenship.

ARSA, formerly Harakatul Yankeen, says it is fighting historical injustices but Myanmar’s rulers insist the group is made up of Muslim “terrorists”.

The group caught the attention of the media in October 2016, when its members attacked three police stations, killing nine officers. Locals said the band used sticks and knives in the raid before fleeing with light weapons.

A scholar quoted by Al Jazeera describes the group as comprising “hopeless men who decided to form some kind of self-defence group and protect their people, who are living in conditions akin to a Nazi concentration camp”.

GENERALS

As outrage grew this week, Suu Kyi cancelled her planned visit to the UN General Assembly.

Though she won the 2015 election, it is the generals who run Myanmar. A quarter of seats in parliament are filled by soldiers.

The generals pick two vice-presidents and the defence minister. They also fill about 80 per cent of civil service jobs and control the police and the justice system.

Suu Kyi’s silence should be understood in that context.

Mr Gekonde is Nation Media Group’s Training and Quality Editor.