Thread: Aung San Suu Kyi : “Promise still to be filled in Burma”

Suu Kyi Faces Tough Questions at Yale, Harvard
MASAO IMAMURA
September 28, 2012


Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi smiles before delivering the annual Godkin Lecture at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sept. 27, 2012.
(PHOTO: Reuters)

BOSTON—Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi enthralled students and journalists on Thursday at Yale and Harvard universities where she re-emphasized her position on the importance of the rule of law in Burma, but avoided getting involved in a debate about the conflicts in the country’s ethnic areas and the controversial crisis in Arakan State.

“Once we can say that we have been able to re-establish rule of law, then we can say that the process of democratization has succeeded,” Suu Kyi said at Yale. “Until that point I do not think that we can say that the process of democratization has succeeded.”

Calling the current system of judiciary “practically non-existent,” Suu Kyi continued: “Until we have a strong, independent, clean judiciary, we cannot say that Burma is truly on the road to democracy.”

She introduced her new role as the chairperson of the Rule of Law Committee at the House of Representatives in Naypyidaw, saying she deplored that rule of law is “fundamentally lacking” and that corruption is “endemic” in Burma. She said that the restoration of rule of law is the most important and urgent task ahead for her country.

The two lectures she delivered on Thursday underscored both Suu Kyi’s strengths and vulnerabilities. Her extraordinary skills as a public speaker were clearly on display. Above all, it is her ability to speak with passion and in plain terms about basic principles of democracy that makes Suu Kyi an exceptionally appealing democracy campaigner.

It is also characteristic of her to advocate democracy in moral terms. Indeed Suu Kyi’s voice is most confident when she talks about normative values such as responsibility and duty. She concluded her talk on rule of law with the remark that education and training would not be enough, because ultimately the goal would be achieved only when citizens’ “attitude and mind-set” changed.

While many of the Ivy League students drew inspiration from her moral philosophy, it was also evident that Suu Kyi was not going to be simply adored and worshipped, and several questions focused on Suu Kyi’s perceived reticence on Burma’s majority-minority issues.

“It is explicitly feared by some that she might effectively end up reinforcing majority rule,” said one Harvard student.

Despite attempts by Harvard students to debate the topic of the Kachin, the Rohingya and other ethnic issues, Suu Kyi repeated the same answers that she had been giving for weeks: that she would not take one side over the other, and that she is opposed to all human rights abuses.

She went a step further in suggesting that there were “people trying to make political capital” by fueling an international outcry about the plight of minorities.

Yale’s president introduced Suu Kyi as “a great unifier.” But immediately after her talk an undergraduate student wrote an article titled “Promise still to be filled in Burma” for the school newspaper The Daily Yale, which criticized Suu Kyi’s for “remaining largely silent” on issues of ethnic minority.

Masao Imamura is a PhD candidate at the National University of Singapore and a Research Fellow at the Harvard Yenching Institute.

irrawaddy.org

President Obama met Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before travelling to Cambodia.

Khmerization

MORE TOTAL BOLLOCKS All the fuss about her fighting for the freedom of what we thought was all the people in Burma . However she don't give a shit about the minorities ,it is all about the Upper class grabbing control .
She as complient in the ethnic cleansing as the people that are doing it . So a picture of a murderer & an ethnic cleanser together & they both got Nobel peace prizes So that makes a nobel peace prize worth shit.

^ Indeed she has been strangely quite on this issue, perhaps because it would not be a popular topic with her voters.

FFS, do you know the first thing about what's been going on up there?

She's more than lucky to be alive.

And still she fights. With more courage, intelligence and morality than you or I can hope to possess.

Hang your fucking heads in shame.

What sort of freedoms don't the everyday average Burmans have?

Originally Posted by WilliamBlake

FFS, do you know the first thing about what's been going on up there?

She's more than lucky to be alive.

And still she fights. With more courage, intelligence and morality than you or I can hope to possess.

Hang your fucking heads in shame.

Another ill informed right wing victim rants away with no basis for his rant . She was never under threat of anything . Shes one of the elite from the old school ties mob of oxford & cambridge.
Now she is behind the ethics getting murdered . I seen a interview of one of the monks & he said he dont care about the people getting killed because they are not really burmese . Good old religion & the one that is backed by this bitch of a cleanser
She should hang her head in shame but she hasen't got any shame. I class her as a murderer along with Obama

Originally Posted by WilliamBlake

FFS, do you know the first thing about what's been going on up there?

Some might ask the same about you and others whom really haven't a clue.

Trot

Try a few capital letters old chap.

You may not have had a classical Oxford or Cambridge education, but at least try to give a good impression.

Seems that Obama committed a faux pas by awkwardly hugging and kissing Suu Kyi. And in public no less. And here we thought the president was so culturally sensitive given his diverse background. I think it was genuine affection and kinda cute, but it's a bit of a gaffe.

Obama, Suu Kyi And The Forbidden Kiss

Originally Posted by ultramarine

Seems that Obama committed a faux pas by awkwardly hugging and kissing Suu Kyi. And in public no less. And here we thought the president was so culturally sensitive given his diverse background. I think it was genuine affection and kinda cute, but it's a bit of a gaffe.

Obama, Suu Kyi And The Forbidden Kiss

Diverse background ? the guy is a murder so do you really think he gives a fk about kissing a bitch that supports crimes against humanity ?

Originally Posted by WilliamBlake

FFS, do you know the first thing about what's been going on up there?

I know that alot of these Rohinga people are been slaughtered on a daily basis, and the Burmese government does not seem to be overly concerned about it, and further more Buddist monks are condoning this activity (so much so for peace loving Monks).

As the main opposition figure to the government, it would not be unreasonable to expect her to pass comment upon this ongoing situation. The longer she keeps quite this situation can only deteriorate further.

I am not an apologist for Muslim extremists, however allowing this situation to fester on, is exactly what allows these extremists to gain a foothold in a country where a Muslim minority is been persecuted.

Originally Posted by WilliamBlake

She's more than lucky to be alive..

When she returned from the UK, she was subjected to no worse than long term house arrest. With all the benefits of home life, unlike many political prisoners in Burma who were subject to infinitely harsher treatement in Burmese jails.

Originally Posted by WilliamBlake

And still she fights. With more courage, intelligence and morality than you or I can hope to possess.

If you say so, but why is she not devoting some of her considerable courage, intelligence, and most of all her morality to contributing to trying to find a solution to end this ever deepening crisis?

Obama flies to Asia

Meets democratic leader

People cheer

Activists jeer

Burma saved!

Heres the referenced article:

ARAGON: Promise still to be filled in Burma
By Katherine Aragon
Guest Columnist
Thursday, September 27, 2012


I was working in Thailand this summer when Aung San Suu Kyi came to town. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of democracy was on her first trip out of Burma since 1988. Though I didn’t see her, colleagues described a mood of ecstasy and hope among the crowd of 5,000 Burmese refugees.

Suu Kyi spent an hour in Mae La, the largest refugee camp in Thailand and home to over 40,000 Burmese refugees. The camp residents waited for hours in the mud and sun to hear Suu Kyi speak, after having woken at dawn to decorate the camp with pictures of her. Despite the often bleak life in a refugee camp, these people welcomed their hero with open arms, asking only that she not forget them.

Burmese people and others deeply admire Suu Kyi, but after decades of oppression and violence, many also deeply distrust the Burmese government. Burmese leaders have done little to assuage their fears.
In Burmese refugee camps this summer, I got to know many young students in a peace and conflict education program. In discussions of recent Burmese reforms, students often said they feared the changes are more aesthetic than substantive. Political prisoners have been released, only to meet restrictions on speech. Military rulers have refused to honor president Thein Sein’s two requests to cease fighting in the eastern ethnic states. In February, the military began bombing one of those states, ending a 17-year ceasefire.

One girl I spoke to described the refugee camp as a safe cage. Though opportunities for educational and economic advancement are highly limited in the camp, at least inhabitants know they can send their children to camp schools and that rations will reach the table. Refugees worry that as soon as displaced minority populations return to Burma, the government will return to its discriminatory — and, historically, genocidal — practices or ignore the people completely, in line with decades of systematic neglect.

Disappointingly, however, Suu Kyi and her political allies have remained largely silent on the subject of the continued persecution of ethnic minorities.

This silence has everything to do with the undemocratic military hierarchy still in place: The top official in Burma today is the military commander-in-chief rather than the civilian president, who is relegated to a third-tier role. Though Suu Kyi is a member of parliament, that body is only partly elected; a quarter of the seats are reserved for military officials.

In her address to students during last night’s Chubb Fellow dinner, Suu Kyi acknowledged that the ethnic Burmese had not treated the ethnic minorities in the country fairly. She reminded students that though Burma had made progress, there was still much to do to secure a free and democratic country for all Burmese citizens.

While she was under house for much of the last two decades, Suu Kyi refused to back down from advocating for democracy and freedom in Burma. Now, out from house arrest, elected to the parliament and internationally influential, she must be all the more emphatic in her support for peace and collaboration with Burma’s beleaguered ethnic minorities.

If the current leaders of Burma want true progress and unification, Suu Kyi and those around her must not shy away from these issues for fear of political retaliation. They must remember that they stand not just for citizens in Burma’s capital but also for the refugees who turned out in droves to embrace Suu Kyi and her promise of equality.

I was walking around the refugee camp in Thailand one day when I heard a young man calling after me, yelling “Teacher, teacher!” I turned around, startled by the urgency in his voice. In a quick exchange, the young man introduced himself as a school teacher in camp. He was in the middle of an English class and wanted me to speak to his students so they could practice English with a native speaker.

As I stood at the front of the bamboo schoolroom asking the teenagers questions, the young teacher interrupted me. He began to explain that he was going nowhere in life, because even after reaching the highest education level possible in the camp, neither the Thai nor the Burmese government recognizes his school certificates.

The man wanted to know what I could do to change this situation. Almost in tears, he asked me “Can you change this? Can you tell anyone? We don’t have a future here in camp. I don’t have a future.”

I didn’t have an answer.

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/09/27/aragon-promise-still-to-be-filled-in-burma/

So, the overpriveleged rich girl studying at Yale blows in to a refugee camp and based on her brief experience thinks she's entitled to pass comment on the political process in Burma. "They must do this", and "They should do that". Typical American, blowing in and thinking they, in their superior wisdom, have all the answers when in fact they have none.

Fuck off, her last sentence says it all "I didn't have an answer"

Originally Posted by khmen

Originally Posted by Mid

Yale’s president introduced Suu Kyi as “a great unifier.” But immediately after her talk an undergraduate student wrote an article titled “Promise still to be filled in Burma” for the school newspaper The Daily Yale, which criticized Suu Kyi’s for “remaining largely silent” on issues of ethnic minority.

And just what does a middle/upper class graduate from fucking Yale know about the issue? Also, that graduate may want to take a look closer to home at US problems with ethnic minorities before criticising someone campaigning for change in a failed state on the other side of the world. Wanker.

There are probably very good reasons why ASSK isn't publicly commenting on the plight of minorities in Burma...which probably go right over the head of an over simplifying, naive undergraduate who most likely knows fuck all about fuck all.

Anyway Trotsky, what exactly have you ever done to further democracy in a rogue state? Easy to sit at your computer and criticise people who actually put their neck on the line for causes they believe in, not so easy to actually get off your arse and make positive changes yourself.

What has she ever done ? fking murdering bitch. Pointing fingers at others don't help your case to support her .All you have done is rant a brainwashed victims rant .There is reasons & that is she don't give a shit about them .She only cares about her elite friends.
Open yuour eyes or are you like her ? & just don't give a shit

What has she ever done? Stood for election, twice, against one of the longest running totalitarian regimes in existence, suffered 15 years of house arrest for her cause, publically spoken out against many injustices and human rights abuses by the junta, founded the NLD, refused to leave the country despite the offer of freedom, etc etc

Again, what have you ever done to further democracy in your own, or any other, country? Again, what do you know of the complex machinations of internal Burmese politics which may cause her to be reticent to comment on ethnic minority issues?

Who has she murdered? Who are her elite friends? You're talking utter shite mate.

Originally Posted by khmen

What has she ever done? Stood for election, twice, against one of the longest running totalitarian regimes in existence, suffered 15 years of house arrest for her cause, publically spoken out against many injustices and human rights abuses by the junta, founded the NLD, refused to leave the country despite the offer of freedom, etc etc

Again, what have you ever done to further democracy in your own, or any other, country? Again, what do you know of the complex machinations of internal Burmese politics which may cause her to be reticent to comment on ethnic minority issues?

Who has she murdered? Who are her elite friends? You're talking utter shite mate.

Her elite mates are the tw*ts that are slaughtering people now OPEN YOUR EYES

She stood for election wow give it a rest she has got the same mentality as the fking monks who also support the slaughter are you blind.
She is in support of the slaughter that is why she is a murder along with obama

Oh yeah, almost forgot, here's a BBC article:

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for laws to protect the rights of ethnic minority groups in her first statement in parliament.
She said such laws were important for Burma to become a truly democratic nation of mutual respect.

Burma has undergone a series of political reforms initiated by the military-backed government.

But some parts of Burma are still hit by conflict and unrest, most recently in Rakhine state.

"To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities," she said, in support of a motion by a ruling party MP.

Poverty in ethnic minority areas also needed to be addressed, she said.
Ms Suu Kyi, who was freed from house arrest in late 2010, was elected to parliament in by-elections in April.

Peace deals have been reached with a number of Burma's ethnic groups, many of whom battled the military junta for years in pursuit of greater autonomy. But fighting is continuing in Kachin state.

Ms Suu Kyi's speech also comes a month after deadly clashes in parts of Burma's western Rakhine state between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims, sparked by the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman.

Aung San Suu Kyi made no specific mention of the Muslim Rohingya people in her speech, and has to date remained relatively quiet on the issue.

Asked in June whether Rohingya should be regarded as Burmese citizens, she said: "I do not know", saying Burma should clarify its citizenship laws.

In a report last week, human rights group Amnesty International said Muslims in western Rakhine state had been subjected to attacks and arbitrary arrests in the weeks since the violence - claims the government described as "groundless and biased".

The Burmese government says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. Neighbouring Bangladesh already hosts several hundred thousand refugees from Burma and says it cannot take any more.

BBC News - Burma's Suu Kyi urges minority rights

It's but one issue in a whole catalogue of ills in Burma. She's only one person, she can't address every single issue to be dealt with and as far as I can see she'sdoing more than most to effect change.

What do people want, the moon on a fucking stick?

Originally Posted by khmen

Oh yeah, almost forgot, here's a BBC article:

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for laws to protect the rights of ethnic minority groups in her first statement in parliament.
She said such laws were important for Burma to become a truly democratic nation of mutual respect.

Burma has undergone a series of political reforms initiated by the military-backed government.

But some parts of Burma are still hit by conflict and unrest, most recently in Rakhine state.

"To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights






and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities," she said, in support of a motion by a ruling party MP.

Poverty in ethnic minority areas also needed to be addressed, she said.
Ms Suu Kyi, who was freed from house arrest in late 2010, was elected to parliament in by-elections in April.

Peace deals have been reached with a number of Burma's ethnic groups, many of whom battled the military junta for years in pursuit of greater autonomy. But fighting is continuing in Kachin state.

Ms Suu Kyi's speech also comes a month after deadly clashes in parts of Burma's western Rakhine state between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims, sparked by the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman.

Aung San Suu Kyi made no specific mention of the Muslim Rohingya people in her speech, and has to date remained relatively quiet on the issue.

Asked in June whether Rohingya should be regarded as Burmese citizens, she said: "I do not know", saying Burma should clarify its citizenship laws.

In a report last week, human rights group Amnesty International said Muslims in western Rakhine state had been subjected to attacks and arbitrary arrests in the weeks since the violence - claims the government described as "groundless and biased".

The Burmese government says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. Neighbouring Bangladesh already hosts several hundred thousand refugees from Burma and says it cannot take any more.

BBC News - Burma's Suu Kyi urges minority rights

It's but one issue in a whole catalogue of ills in Burma. She's only one person, she can't address every single issue to be dealt with and as far as I can see she'sdoing more than most to effect change.

What do people want, the moon on a fucking stick?

No wonder thebankers got away with what they did & still the eyes are closed

Originally Posted by khmen

What do people want, the moon on a fucking stick?

You know what is said about beating your head against a brickwall ?

...................... feels good when you stop .

.

Originally Posted by Trotsky

Her elite mates are the tw*ts that are slaughtering people now OPEN YOUR EYES

She stood for election wow give it a rest she has got the same mentality as the fking monks who also support the slaughter are you blind.
She is in support of the slaughter that is why she is a murder along with obama

What, her elite mates who imprisoned her for 15 years, who she has fought against for years?

I see you're a typical far left nutter who thinks everyone but them is blinkered. Maybe you should open your eyes to the fact that your "insight" is, in fact, totally skewed and warped.


Edit: You're right Mid, It's beginning to get pretty painful. OUT.

Originally Posted by khmen

Originally Posted by Trotsky

Her elite mates are the tw*ts that are slaughtering people now OPEN YOUR EYES

She stood for election wow give it a rest she has got the same mentality as the fking monks who also support the slaughter are you blind.
She is in support of the slaughter that is why she is a murder along with obama

What, her elite mates who imprisoned her for 15 years?

I see you're a typical far left nutter who thinks everyone but them is blinkered. Maybe you should open your eyes to the fact that your "insight" is, in fact, totally skewed and warped.

Typical right wing fundamentalist name calling so yes you are a SocalI bet your really proud of that aren't you