Suu Kyi defends Rohingya policy
She admits the crisis could have been handled better, but ‘we have to be fair’
HANOI— Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday defended her government’s policy on 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh because of a brutal military campaign. She said the crisis could have been handled better, but she defended the policy despite confirmed cases of mass rape, killings and arson of thousands of homes since 2017.
HANOI— Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday defended her government’s policy on 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who had fled to Bangladesh because of a brutal military campaign.
In hindsight
“There are of course ways in which, with hindsight, I think the situation could have been handled better,” Suu Kyi said at the World Economic Forum’s regional meeting in Hanoi.
“[But] we have to be fair to all sides,” Suu Kyi said. “The rule of law must apply to everyone. We cannot choose and pick.”
Myanmar’s military is accused of mass rape, killings and setting fire to thousands of homes in the aftermath of an August 2017 attack by Rohingya militants on security outposts.
A report issued two weeks ago by a specially appointed UN human rights team recommended prosecuting senior Myanmar commanders for genocide and other crimes.
But Suu Kyi said the situation was complicated by the myriad ethnic minorities in the area.
Myanmar has to deal with its aftermath, and Suu Kyi said Yangon is ready to take back those who fled.
Media harassment
Suu Kyi also rejected criticism over the conviction last week of two Reuters news agency reporters who helped expose extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya men and boys.
The reporters were both sentenced to seven years imprisonment on charges of possessing state secrets.