Fall From Grace
Dhaka Courier|September 1, 2017

Suu Kyi’s government has banned a U.N. investigation team from entering the afflicted region, and earlier this month rejected the world body’s assertion that the regime’s actions “very likely” amounted to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Denis D. Gray
Fall From Grace

As Aung San Suu Kyi launched a national struggle against decades of harsh military rule, one medical student worked tirelessly at her side, facing down gun-wielding soldiers trying to crush the surging pro-democracy movement. For her activism and loyalty, Ma Thida suffered six years of mostly solitary imprisonment and nearly died of illnesses.

Now a medical doctor, novelist and recipient of international human rights awards, Ma Thida has few kind words for the former mentor she once called “my sister who always remained in my heart.”

The criticism by Ma Thida and other formerly ardent supporters is manifold: they accuse Suu Kyi of ignoring state violence against ethnic minorities and Muslims, continuing to jail journalists and activists, cowing to Myanmar’s still-powerful generals, and failing to nurture democratic leaders who could step in when she, now 72, exits the scene. Instead, they say her government is creating a power vacuum that could be filled again by the military.

Some conclude that Suu Kyi, who espoused democracy with such passion, always possessed an authoritarian streak which only emerged once she gained power.

“We can’t expect her to change the whole country in one-and-a-half years, but we expect a strong human rights-based approach,” Ma Thida says of the Nobel Peace Prize winner once hailed as “Myanmar’s Joan of Arc” and spoken of in the same breath as South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi of India.

International criticism has focused on Suu Kyi’s lack of action or condemnation of violence targeting the country’s approximately 1 million Rohingya Muslims, who have been brutalized since 2012 by security forces and zealots among the Buddhist majority in western Myanmar.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 1, 2017-Ausgabe von Dhaka Courier.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 1, 2017-Ausgabe von Dhaka Courier.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS DHAKA COURIERAlle anzeigen
Rohingya: Walk A Mile In Their Shoes
Dhaka Courier

Rohingya: Walk A Mile In Their Shoes

My reminiscences of Cox’s Bazar are deeply rooted in my childhood during family vacations taken with my parents and three siblings - horse rides on the beach, sunsets against the widest horizon, charcoal barbecues by nightfall, and copious amounts of seafood throughout our stays. My recent trip to Cox’s Bazar, some 20 odd years later, however, was starkly contrasting in that the circumstance was dire, one which continues to sit steep in my mind.

time-read
5 Minuten  |
October 6, 2017
Suu Kyi Risks Losing Ground To Military Over Rakhine Crisis
Dhaka Courier

Suu Kyi Risks Losing Ground To Military Over Rakhine Crisis

YANGON • Locals like to joke that Myanmar has two governments. That’s not very far from the truth.

time-read
4 Minuten  |
October 6, 2017
Dhaka Courier

Satellite Images Show Sprawling Rohingya Refugee Camps

Massive, makeshift refugee camps are sprawling over farms and open land in southern Bangladesh as more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims flee violent attacks in their predominantly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar.

time-read
2 Minuten  |
October 6, 2017
Akhtarun Nahar Ivy's 9
Dhaka Courier

Akhtarun Nahar Ivy's 9

UNB Cultural DeskArt is a unique, powerful tool of connecting people, culture, says Ahn Seong-Doo

time-read
3 Minuten  |
October 6, 2017
Ganasangeet Festival Still Showing Hope For Music
Dhaka Courier

Ganasangeet Festival Still Showing Hope For Music

Ganasangeet Festival Still Showing Hope For Music

time-read
1 min  |
April 6, 2018
Trump Hurtles Toward Three Nuclear Crises
Dhaka Courier

Trump Hurtles Toward Three Nuclear Crises

Trump Hurtles Toward Three Nuclear Crises

time-read
3 Minuten  |
April 6, 2018
What Bangladesh Stands To Gain From Bangabandhu-1
Dhaka Courier

What Bangladesh Stands To Gain From Bangabandhu-1

What Bangladesh Stands To Gain From Bangabandhu-1

time-read
2 Minuten  |
April 6, 2018
Where Good Voices Must Go Bad
Dhaka Courier

Where Good Voices Must Go Bad

Where Good Voices Must Go Bad

time-read
3 Minuten  |
April 13, 2018
The minister's one hundred taka
Dhaka Courier

The minister's one hundred taka

The minister’s one hundred taka

time-read
3 Minuten  |
April 13, 2018
Dhaka Wants Delhi Pressure For Rohingya Return
Dhaka Courier

Dhaka Wants Delhi Pressure For Rohingya Return

Indian foreign secretary visits Bangladesh, no development on Teesta front

time-read
6 Minuten  |
April 13, 2018