June 20, 2016

Plight of the Rohingyas

The question on the minds of the Rohingya on World Refugee Day today is whether Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, long silent, will speak out about their plight.

Even in April this year, Suu Kyi asked the new US ambassador to Myanmar, Scot Alan Marciel, to refrain from using the term 'Rohingya' and the envoy replied that the US, as a standard practice, uses the term that a people use to refer to themselves.

But the first time she would be willing to talk about the crisis of the Muslim minority group in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, was when US Secretary John Kerry visited the country for the first time after Suu Kyi's party National League for Democracy (NLD) assumed power.

The Dhaka Tribune obtained a recording of the joint press briefing held on May 22 where Suu Kyi raised the topic. (Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)

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