A Muslim scholar concerns over Suu Kyi silence on Rohingya case

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Myanmar`s Rohingya Muslim minority issue should provide a golden opportunity for Aung San Suu Kyi to prove to the world as a Nobel peace laureate, said an Indonesian Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra on Thursday. "We certainly regret Suu Kyi`s silence as a Nobel prize recipient towards the incident. This is actually a golden opportunity for her to settle Rohingya`s case. If she remains silent then her credibility as a Nobel Prize laureate is questionable," he said.

As the leader of Myanmar`s opposition party and has won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi has chosen to remain silent on the humanitarian tragedy in Myanmar`s Rakhine region. Azra argued that Suu Kyi might consider Rohingya issue had no political advatage.

"I am concerned that Suu Kyi is more concerned to pragmatic politics. Rohingya people do not have citizenships meaning they have no voting right, so they would not provide a political benefit for her and therefore she has remained silent." he said.

Suu Kyi`s silence on the incident is believed to be related to the opposition leader`s political agenda to run for president. Suu Kyi is afraid of being not elected president if she defends the Rohingya ethnic group. Azra also criticized human rights activists who had also been silent about the Rohingya case.

"I do not know why they have kept silent. Perhaps it is because the problem is too complicated, and I see no access is available to the case. In this case, the Indonesian government can contribute to this humanitarian dispute through diplomatic and multilateral approach, and that needs to be taken," he said.

According to reports on 28 June, 2012, 650 Rohingya people have died in clashes that broke out in the Rakhine region in western Myanmar. More than 1,200 people have also gone missing and 80,000 people have been made homeless.