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Comment by refurb | Hacker News Reader

You seem to be glossing over her actions.

"In 2012, she told reporters she did not know if the Rohingya could be regarded as Burmese citizens."

"However, she said that she wanted to work towards reconciliation and she cannot take sides as violence has been committed by both sides."

"State crime experts from Queen Mary University of London warned that Aung San Suu Kyi is "legitimising genocide" in Myanmar."

"Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a fellow peace prize holder, also criticised Suu Kyi's silence: in an open letter published on social media, he said: "If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep"

"In early October 2018, both the Canadian Senate and its House of Commons voted unanimously to strip Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary citizenship."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi

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I’m not glossing over anything.

She has been trying to build relationship with generals, and is not going to publicly denounce them just to achieve some kind of moral pageantry. Angering the military so she can appease people who don’t do anything for Burma is pointless.

If ASSK was in charge Rohingya situation would not happen. But she’s not in charge. Holding her to some impossible ideal is ridiculous. Blaming her for genocide is offensive. It’s just part of a game western academics, journalists, and moralizers like to play.

Her actions are completely understandable if you understand the political situation, and its history.

And for most Burmese the lack of support for her fledgling civilian government by the nations and journalists that condemn her has created deep resentment. Nobody here cares at all what they think.

Imagine how it feels to have people, who don’t even know the name of the generals, how the government works, or where Myanmar is on a map, tell us how evil ASSK is. The person who has sacrificed her whole family and life for peace and reconciliation.

This is the exact rationale the US uses when it supports dictatorships - "we're just choosing the least worst option". It's not exactly a convincing argument.

The fact is is that what's happening to the Rohingya is a a genocide - and ASSK says nothing or even worse, tries to dismiss it or make excuses. As Desmond Tutu said in the statement I quoted, if the price of her position is silence, that's a price too high.

You really expect her to die on a hill that can’t be held? What’s the point of that? Publicly shaming the military isn’t a way for her to achieve anything. She is a prisoner of the people responsible for the war crimes in Rakhine state. She doesn’t need to condemn anything. Everyone in Burma already knows who is responsible. It would achieve absolutely nothing.

And Desmond Tutu’s letter is patronizing and ridiculous. She has no power over the Rakhine situation. None. The only power she had was negotiating with the military. She doesn’t need to be told that people don’t deserve to be victims of war and ethnic strife.

We stand with Aung San Suu Kyi until the end.

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