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...

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Autor principal: Lee, Ronan (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
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Publicado: Taylor & Francis [2014]
En: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Año: 2014, Volumen: 25, Número: 3, Páginas: 321-333
Clasificaciones IxTheo:AX Relaciones inter-religiosas
BJ Islam
BL Budismo
KBM Asia
TK Período contemporáneo
Otras palabras clave:B Myanmar
B Rohingyas
B Aung San Suu Kyi
B Burma
B Buddhist-Muslim violence
Acceso en línea: Volltext (Verlag)
Descripción
Sumario: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.
ISSN:1469-9311
Obras secundarias:Enthalten in: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410.2014.913850