Voices
Sheikh Hasina, declared that Bangladesh cannot help the Rohingyas. Bangladesh has even shut off
foreign NGOs from being able to
assist the thousands of people
trapped between two countries, in
desperate need of food and medical services.
But it is Suu Kyi’s silence
on this issue that is particularly
deafening. How can a woman
the world has watched fight for
her people against the might of
a military junta for decades not
have a word to say when an entire section of her country’s population is being violently
attacked? It is shocking to say
the least. It also makes us ponder what kind of leader Suu
Kyi will be.
Why is the world being silent
about Suu Kyi’s silence? This
is where the politics gets personal and begins to implicate all
of us. When I first mentioned
that I wanted to write about how
Suu Kyi has failed the Rohingyas, many people were shocked
that I would “attack” a woman
the world holds so dear. No
one wants to hear anything bad
about Suu Kyi. We clearly have
idolized this woman to the point
of no return. We want to believe
ANUSHAY
HOSSAIN
HUFFINGTON
10.21.12
that the fight she waged for a
“free” Burma includes the Rohingya people as well.
The lesson is that, when it
comes to women in positions of
power, we still tend to genderize
them. We do not want anything
to taint the perfect
portrait of grace and
political sacrifice we
This is
have painted in our
where the
hearts and minds of
politics gets
Aung San Suu Kyi.
personal and
We imagined and
begins to
worshiped her as a
implicate all
maternal political
warrior, and that is
of us.”
how we want her to
remain. Even if this can be a considered a positive stereotype, it
still is a stereotype.
But as both the Bangladeshi
and Burmese governments abdicate responsibility, remaining silent about the war on Rohingyas
is a moral failure—and who more
could facilitate a solution to the
crisis than Suu Kyi?
We have waited decades to see
Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi ascend
toward what we all believed was
her rightful political throne.
Where lies her political destiny? The Rohingyas now
hold the key.