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A Politician, Not an Icon: Aung San Suu Kyi's Silence on Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya
In Myanmar (also known as Burma), the Rohingya are a persecuted Muslim minority living
mainly in northern Rakhine State. Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic leader of Myanmar’s
opposition party the National League for Democracy (NLD), is championed as the voice of
the people. However, on the matter of the Rohingya’s persecution she has been notably
silent. This article examines the possible reasons for Suu Kyi’s silence and argues that
Buddhist–Muslim political relations in Myanmar are central to understanding the reasons
behind Suu Kyi’s position on the Rohingya. It is suggested that various factors, including
the history of the Rohingya in Myanmar, the NLD’s attitude towards the Rohingya, Suu
Kyi’s sense of obligation to her father’s political legacy, and Suu Kyi’s views on ethnicity,
are creating a political environment in which Suu Kyi is presented with pragmatic political
reasons for staying silent. Given Suu Kyi has the potential to become a future national
leader, an understanding of her behaviours towards a sizeable persecuted Muslim minority is
important. This is particularly the case when consideration is given to the contemporary
pressures on Muslims to embrace radical politics and the implications this could have for
Myanmar and the region.
