The Lady Was Neither Impressive nor Her Arguments Persuasive

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fountainhall

The Lady Was Neither Impressive nor Her Arguments Persuasive

Post by fountainhall »

For many, many years Aung San Suu Kyi was one of the most admired women in the world. She was credited as being the primary reason for the conversion of Myanmar away from strict dictatorship back to a form of democracy. After the death of Mandela, she and the Dalai Lama, joined in the view of many by Pope Francis, were considered by most as the admired moral leaders in the world.

That position has taken a violent knock in recent weeks with the violence and troubles in Rakhine state. The Lady's silence on the subject after many weeks has been deafening even as 400,000 and more have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh and in the face of serious diplomatic accusations of ethnic cleansing. Having just listened to her speech in Yangon broadcast on CNN, she said all the right words about the future - "We are committed to peace and stability for all in Rakhine state", "Our government is committed to the human rights of all human beings within the borders of our country", "We are a young and fragile democracy facing many problems . . . we cannot concentrate just on a few". Indeed she said the words "peace", "harmony" and "stability" more than any other throughout the speech. But according to commentators, she told several outright lies on several occasions about conditions in Rakhine state. She also stated she claimed to be utterly clueless as to why there was any Rohingya problem at all!

I found nothing in that speech which expressed any kind of genuine remorse for what has been happening to the Rohingya people and the desperate state of all those refugees. Basically she just handed the problem over to the international community to find solutions.

No doubt she is facing major conflicts on many fronts within the country. But it was a horribly ineffective speech by a lady whose moral authority, I believe, has now been seriously diminished.
aussie
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Re: The Lady Was Neither Impressive nor Her Arguments Persuasive

Post by aussie »

Myanmar is off my travel plan. Now they have had big rainfall at the camps in Bangladesh to make conditions there nearly unbearable. It has been distressing to see the news reports about this terrible situation over the past weeks.
fountainhall

Re: The Lady Was Neither Impressive nor Her Arguments Persuasive

Post by fountainhall »

Off mine, too, and I had planned to go in February. Sad that it is the ordinary people who really need the tourist income. But the sort of mass deportation and ethnic cleansing we are seeing is hideous. Despite the balancing act she has to maintain, I cannot believe someone of Aung San Suu Kyi's international stature could not have done more to stop it - or at least spoken out against it long before now. Too many of the words she spoke in accepting the Nobel Peace Prize are now coming back to haunt her.

CNN has just aired an horrific report. One lady had three of her young children killed by the military, one by being thrown on to a fire. Three of the soldiers then raped her. Another woman's teenage son was killed this morning. Aung Sang Suu Kyi says she has seen no evidence. Clearly she has her eyes and ears shut.
thewayhelooks
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Re: The Lady Was Neither Impressive nor Her Arguments Persuasive

Post by thewayhelooks »

'an iceberg of fake news and misinformation from terrorists'. Even President Turniphead couldn't have come up with a better line.
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