The Myanmar Dilemmas

New Delhi should not jettison its hard-won strategic space in Myanmar because of self-righteous moral posturing.

- Harsh V. Pant

FINALLY, MYANMAR’S DE facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi broke her silence on the Rohingya crisis last month. After being pilloried across the globe for her indifference to the plight of Rohingya Muslims, Suu Kyi, in her speech to Myanmar’s parliament, said she felt “deeply” for the suffering of “all people” in the conflict, and that Myanmar was “committed to a sustainable solution… for all communities in this state”. While she condemned “all human rights violations and unlawful violence”, she also made it clear that her government had made efforts in recent years to improve living conditions for the Muslims in Rakhine province — providing healthcare, education and infrastructure. Most significantly, she suggested that all refugees in Bangladesh would be able to return after a process of verification. The Myanmar military, for its part, says its operations in Rakhine are aimed at rooting out militants, and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.

But Suu Kyi’s statement failed to satisfy her critics who feel she is not using her moral power to influence the military’s targeting of Rohingyas. She does not control the military and there continues to be a trust deficit between the two. But her refusal to condemn military abuses against Rohingyas provides the generals with political cover. From the regional perspective, she was under pressure from Bangladesh and India to do something about the refugee situation.