Myanmar message
What exactly did Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Burmese civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi say to each other in their meeting about the Rohingya crisis (Scotsman, 21 September)?
It seems that the Nobel Peace Prize winner now has few friends in the international community and will remain something of a pariah until Burmese military leaders face some legal action for their alleged genocide, and all the refugees currently in Bangladesh are returned safely to Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
In the interests of balance, something ought to be said in her defence.
Late last year on a holiday in Myanmar (which on Foreign Office advice did not include the area of turbulence) I heard some of those arguments in support of her. It is important to remember that she is regarded as a heroine in the largely Buddhist state.
It is still possible to understand her political difficulties in helping make a civilian/military government
work. She could easily end up under house arrest again if she makes judgements which members of the former junta will not tolerate. This is realpolitic.
She may have asked Mr Hunt what the reaction in Britain would have been to terrorist actions on a substantial scale.
She would have been fair to point out that the United Kingdom, as the former colonial power, left a difficult legacy of friction between Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus when it hurriedly pulled out of the region in the late 1940s.
None of that can excuse a military overreaction to disconservative
sent in the Rohingya population. Much of it is no doubt fuelled by religious conflict which any government might find difficult to control.
The point is that, if there is to be a lasting settlement of the problem, there needs to be more understanding of the history of the situation and the constraints under which aung Sang Suu Kyi operates.
Gestures about stripping her of the Nobel Prize no doubt help to ease consciences, but they are no substitute for practical diplomacy which respects the views of both sides.
BOB TAYLOR
Shiel Court, Glenrothes