10, January 2016 Myanmar
In flip/flop movements, the arc of the universe seems to
be bending towards and away from social justice.
Much like the other unsung hero, Nelson Mandela, Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, has languished in jail for decades only to emerge from the shadows
helping her party win the November election by a landslide. Unfortunately, the
rise of democracy has been accompanied by a racist and xenophobic demagoguery
against the Rohingya (Muslim) minority.
According to a Yale study the appalling abuse of more
than one million Rohingya may amount to genocide whose conclusions are
reinforced by a United Nations report to the Security Council which accuses
Myanmar “of committing crimes against humanity under international criminal
law.” Aung San Suu Kyi is unable or unwilling to oppose the popular Buddhist
sentiment of oppressing the Rohingya. Her willingness to sacrifice principle for
political expediency, is deeply disappointing.
Sadly, our own Nobel Peace Prize winner, President Obama,
continues to remain silent in the wake of the Rohingya genocide of 67
concentration camps where the unfortunate Muslims languish.
The global and UN response has been hugely disappointing
and the plight of the Rohingya has been ignored by most Muslim countries. The
few unsung heroes are aid groups like Save the Children, Fortify Watch, Doctors
without Borders and Human Rights Watch. In a cringing capitulation, the US
embassy in Myanmar, scrupulously avoids all references to the World’s forgotten
stateless people.
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