Aung San Suu Kyi exclusive interview - BBC
News: https://youtu.be/MFEEmdKbqBE
Aung San Suu Kyi has denied there is ethnic cleansing of
the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, despite widespread reports of abuses.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Nobel peace
prize winner acknowledged problems in Rakhine state, where most Rohingya people
live.
But she said ethnic cleansing was "too strong" a
term to use.
Instead, Myanmar's de-facto leader said the country would
welcome any returning Rohingya with open arms.
"I don't think there is ethnic cleansing going on. I
think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is
happening," she told the BBC's special correspondent Fergal Keane.
Ms Suu Kyi added: "I think there is a lot of
hostility there - it is Muslims killing Muslims as well, if they think they are
co-operating with the authorities.
"It is not just a matter of ethnic cleansing as you
put it - it is a matter of people on different sides of the divide, and this
divide we are trying to close up."
Hounded and ridiculed for complaining of rape: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39204086
Truth, lies and Aung San Suu Kyi: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38756601
Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38168917
Rohingya villages 'destroyed' in Myanmar: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38049106
The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar,
also known as Burma, which views them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
They face routine official and public discrimination. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38168917
Tens of thousands of Rohingya live in make-shift refugee camps
after being displaced by communal violence in 2012.
In recent months, some 70,000 have fled to Bangladesh to
escape a government military operation in Rakhine, launched after nine
policemen were killed in an attack.
The United Nations announced last month it was to conduct an investigation into allegations the
military has been indiscriminately targeting the Rohingya during the operation,
subjecting them to rape, murder and torture. The government has denied this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39380041
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| Rohingya refugee girl wipes her eyes as she cries at Leda Unregistered
Refugee Camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh, Feb 15, 2017 Image/REUTERS |
For many, Ms Suu Kyi's perceived silence on the Rohingya
has damaged the reputation she earned as a beacon for human rights, thanks to
her decades-long battle against the military junta, during much of which she
was under house arrest.
She has come under increasing pressure internationally on
the issue.
But speaking in a face-to-face interview for the first
time this year, Ms Suu Kyi said had answered questions on the issue previously.
"This question has been asked since 2013, when the
last round of troubles broke out in Rakhine.
"And they [the journalists] would ask me questions
and I would answer them and people would say I said nothing.
"Simply because I did not make the statements people
wanted, which people wanted me to make, simply to condemn one community or the
other."
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People hold posters and shout slogans as they march
during a protest held to show opposition to the govt of
Myanmar's plan to
give citizenship to some Rohingya
Muslims, in Sittwe, Rakhine State. Image EPA
|
Ms Suu Kyi said she had no idea why the October attacks
were carried out, but speculated it may have been an effort to derail attempts to negotiate peace between the Myanmar state
and the country's various armed ethnic insurgent groups. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37227581
She also denied the army had free rein to do whatever it
liked.
"They are not free to rape, pillage and
torture," she said. "They are free to go in and fight. That is in the
constitution. Military matters are to be left to the army."
However, she did acknowledge that regaining control of
the military was something the government still hoped to do. Under the current
constitution, the military operates independently of the governing party.
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From icon to politician: Fergal Keane for BBC News in
Myanmar
I meet her in Nay Pyi Daw, a relic of the absurdity and
paranoia of military rule, a capital marooned far from the people, designed to
keep the generals safe but where the new democratic government is now trying to
consolidate a hold on power.
I first interviewed Aung San Suu Kyi more than two
decades ago on her release from the first period of house arrest in July 1995.
Since then I have followed her progress through renewed house arrest, military
crackdowns and then the triumph of democratic elections last year.
The atmosphere when we met was friendly. She discussed
her government's achievements but refused absolutely to accept that the
Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state were the victims of ethnic cleansing.
These days she is wary of the international media,
disdainful of her international critics, far more the steely politician than
the global icon feted from capital to capital when she was released seven years
ago.
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Ms Suu Kyi also defended the progress her government had
made since sweeping to power in March last year.
The number one priority - creating jobs - had been helped
by investment into roads, bridges and bringing electricity to communities.
Healthcare has also improved, and more free elections have been held.
Other priorities included creating a peace in a country
which has almost continuously been in a state of civil war.
And then there was discussion of giving citizenship to
those who had been denied it under the military junta - like the Rohingya.
As for those Rohingya who have fled Myanmar to
neighbouring countries, Ms Suu Kyi said: "If they come back they will be
safe. It is up for them to decide, some have come back.
"We welcome them and we will welcome them
back."