Aung San Suu Kyi

The Kofi Annan Report was published August 25, 2017, on demand of the Myanmar government, by a commission headed by former Secretary-General of United Nations Mr. Kofi Annan (1938-2018). One of the international members of this commission was senior Dutch diplomat Ms. Laetitia van den Assum.

The very same day of the publishment of the report, the so called Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, ARSA, attacked about thirty police stations in Rakhine State and killed about 20 security people.

One of the lessons of history is that many wars have been started by a provocation – as a means of ill-willing people to influence the course of events: the German attack in Poland (1939), de Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour (1941), the Tonkin-incident in Vietnam (1964) en the start of the Iraq War (2003) are recent examples of that. The ARSA terrorists, well trained in Saudi-Arabia, know this history. Furthermore it is a daily reality (see Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and all suicide bombings) that muslim terrorists do not hesitate to kill fellow muslims to reach a supposed higher goal.

After terrorist attacks by ARSA (‘Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’) in October 2016 and August 25 2017, the reaction of the Myanmar army and the following massive refugee stream in Rakhine state and across the Bangladesh border, there was world wide pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi to speak out about this.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s biographer Alan Clements (Aung San Suu Kyi, The Voice of Hope) recently made the following statement about her (Facebook, September 14, 2017):

“Aung San Suu Kyi is a non-violent visionary, not a villain colluding with violence. She is undertaking the (nearly) impossible: making peace with everyone in her country, the oppressed and oppressors alike. This is unprecedented emotional territory, and not easy for the ‘us and them’ dynamic that dominates mainstream politics, and spirituality as well. Yes, it is very hard to make sense of this situation, precisEly because the ‘Dhamma of nonviolent reconciliation’ is the new edge of human transformation on our beleaguered planet.”

September 19, 2017, she did speak out (full transcript), on her own conditions (and not on United Nations’), in her own capital, to her own people and the international diplomatic world and media as well. Topic of her speech was ‘Reconciliation and Peace’. She made an appeal to everyone, to all to whom it concerned, both in Myanmar and outside, to not be guided by fear and hate, as they are manifested in the use of weapons, words and emotions.

In most reactions in Western and Arabic media and by NGO’s like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, her words were immediately considered as idle and empty, and she was even called a lyer. It is saddening to see that this does not only continue hatred, but also delusion and stupidity. It simply shows that people have no idea HOW fear and hatred can decrease.

I can advise very much to watch her 40 minutes speech. Her English is perfect of course. I consider this speech as a unique mixture of a ‘State of the Union’ and a Dhamma talk.

Later interview

June 6 2018: the government of Myanmar signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UN Refugees Organisation UNHCR and UN Development Organisation UNDP to support the creating of conditions for the return of refugees from Bangladesh. China opposed this signing, which has obviously to do with the geopolitical issue of the establishment of a harbour (Kyaukphyu) in Rakhine State. About this and other topics June 11 2018 Japanese broadcasting NHK World’s Orie Sugimoto had an interview with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Moral Democracy. The Political Thought of Aung San Suu Kyi

New: Michal Lubina, The Moral Democracy. The Political Thought of Aung San Suu Kyi. Krakow, 2019. Review in The Irrawaddy, November 2.