Many
people say they are beginning to lose faith in Aung San Suu Kyi's leadership.
Myanmar's Suu Kyi
criticised for silence on key issues: https://youtu.be/xMw0jm9k2lI
By Wayne Hay
Roving Correspondent
I'm writing this
sitting in a Yangon hotel that I've been to many times. The first, was the most
memorable because I was chased through the lobby by the Special Branch of
Myanmar's police who had followed me from the headquarters of the National League
for Democracy where I had interviewed Aung San Suu Kyi just after her release
from house arrest.
It was late 2010,
and back then, it wasn't even safe to mention her name in public because she
was the enemy of the military state that had been running Myanmar for almost 50
years, and in the process, had shut the country off from the outside world.
The reason I've
shared this slice of nostalgia is that, on one hand, it's remarkable how much
has changed in this country, and on the other, how things have stayed the same.
Suu Kyi calls for
unity in divided Myanmar: https://youtu.be/IyGnSV7gWNc
Six and a half years after I was comically pursued around
the streets of Yangon for being a journalist in a place I wasn't welcome, Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy party is in government and she's the state
counsellor. Big developments.
Here's another: It seems to have become fashionable to
criticise Suu Kyi.
There was a time, not long ago, when it seemed the whole
world was in love with her, and was full of hope and optimism about what she
was going to do for the country. Leading the charge at times were journalists,
some of whom seemed determined to cut her as much slack as they could, for as
long as they could.
To a certain extent that attitude was fair enough given
what she had been through under military rule, and the sheer magnitude of her
task ahead in trying to reconnect Myanmar with the international community and
fix the problems that military rule and the resulting economic sanctions had brought.
Tireless campaigner
But my attitude has always been to wait and see what she
does and how she performs. I remember saying when she was released from house
arrest that she could turn out to be a terrible leader or politician because we
simply didn't know at that time.
Just because she was a tireless campaigner for democracy
and human rights, didn't mean she would become a great anything, let alone a
great leader of her country.
Myanmar’s Rohingya losing faith in new government: https://youtu.be/KO3cvQiDF34
I'm not saying that
she's terrible at anything, and I certainly don't envy the position she's in -
which is at times made more difficult because of the actions of some in the
military and their allies in government ministries who work to undermine her
power.
What I am saying is
that there are worrying signs. I've talked to many people recently who say
they're beginning to lose faith in her leadership, which, within the NLD, has
always been carried out in a top down style.
There are even some
who are involved in government quietly saying they enjoy dealing with military
generals more than the state counsellor because they're treated with more
respect.
It's clear that the
generals are still in control in Myanmar and that means that Suu Kyi is going
to struggle to push through the reforms that she wants to in the timeframe that
the country desperately needs.
The army has played
a clever game, stepping back from the spotlight, while still enjoying the
benefits of power and leaving the NLD leader to be centre-stage, taking much of
the blame for some of the country's problems.
But she still has a voice
that she could use to send the message to people at home and overseas, to prove
she cares and that she's still fighting for the same things she's always fought
for: freedom and human rights.
Those are things
that she and others had taken away from them for many years and of which many
people in Myanmar are still being robbed. But Suu Kyi has lost her voice and if
she doesn't find it soon, more people may start to lose faith.
Reality Check: Aung
San Suu Kyi's shameful silence on the Rohingya – UpFront: https://youtu.be/kGwpRI78biU
Source: http://aje.io/bc59