Myanmar defends Suu Kyi’s silence over jailed reporters
A Myanmar official on Tuesday defended Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s silent response to the jailing of two Reuters journalists as a reluctance to criticize the judiciary.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested while reporting on the Rohingya crisis last year.
A Yangon court on Monday found them guilty under the Official Secrets Act and handed them each seven years in prison, sparking outrage from the UN, EU and US as well as media and rights groups.
A UN report last week accused Suu Kyi of failing to use her moral authority to stem the violence last year and called for the generals to be prosecuted for “genocide.”
Aung Hla Tun, a former Reuters journalist who now works for the government as deputy Minister of Information, defended the Nobel Laureate’s reticence.
“Criticizing the judicial system would be tantamount to contempt of court,” he told AFP. “I don’t think she will do it.”
Lawyers for the pair will appeal the verdict although the lengthy process could take months.
The country’s president, a close ally of Suu Kyi, could also pardon the reporters but experts say any immediate intervention is unlikely.
In April 8,500 people were set free in an amnesty, including 36 deemed to be political prisoners but there were still some 200 others, including the two Reuters journalists, facing trials linked to political activities.
Suu Kyi’s one public reference to the Reuters journalists during the court case – telling Japanese broadcaster NHK that the pair had broken the Official Secrets Act – was criticized by rights groups for potentially prejudicing the verdict. Response to the jailing was mixed. A publication called 7Day News branded it a “sad day” for Myanmar and carried a large black rectangle on its front page.
On Facebook, comments were overwhelmingly stacked against the reporters, accusing them of bias and some even calling for a harsher sentence.
Western media have launched a collective attack on Nay Pyi Taw lately. Right after a Myanmarese court sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in jail Monday, CNN, the Guardian and quite a few other mainstream Western media asserted this was a blow to press freedom, judicial independence and democracy. Some even claimed the sentence had sparked a backlash in the international community.
These media one-sidedly alleged the two journalists were arrested for investigating “a massacre of Rohingya Muslims,” skirting around or questioning the court’s reason: Both violated a state secrets act. The journalists had consistently tried to obtain confidential government information that could have been passed on “to enemies of the state and terrorist organizations,” according to Myanmarese media.
In a Google search of “Myanmar,” one will find 17 results about this story on the Google news homepage as of press time, but none of them is from Myanmar media. Regardless of whether the West’s accusations are right or wrong, why do they tend to touch lightly on the voices inside Myanmar?
Before the judgment, the Myanmar Times reported that “the court’s decision will be based on the rule of law.” Other nations should respect the country's situation and its rule of law.
The West has been exerting increasing pressure on Nay Pyi Taw over the Rohingya crisis. On August 27, the UN Human Rights Council issued a report on the Rohingya minority, calling for genocide charges against the Myanmar military. But Myanmar’s government rejected the findings in the report, noting it undermines the Myanmar government’s efforts to bring peace, national reconciliation and development to the country.
Zaw Htay, Myanmar’s main government spokesman, said the country has “zero tolerance to any human rights violation” and had set up a Commission of Enquiry to respond to “false allegations” made by the UN and “other international communities,” adding “If there is any case against human rights, just give us strong evidence, record and date so that we can take legal action,” Reuters reported. But Western media have so far not yet provided acceptable evidence, record and date.
No country can replace Myanmar in resolving the Rohingya crisis. The West should take the nation’s actual situation into consideration, instead of intimidating it in the name of the “international community.”
Who exactly is the so-called “international community?” The answer can be interesting.
In 2001, the Washington-led “international community” which invaded Afghanistan included the US, the UK, Germany, France etc. In 2003, the Washington-led “international community” that invaded Iraq included the US, the UK, Poland, Australia etc. In 2011, the Washington-led “international community” that invaded Libya included the US, the UK, Germany, France etc. The so-called international community is nothing more than a dozen countries. How can they represent more than 190 countries worldwide? Perhaps such an “international community” is more like a gang.
Being a small country is not supposed to be the reason for others to refuse to hear what Myanmar has to say. If the West believes itself fair-and-square, it’s time to stop being deaf to Myanmar voices.