SUSAN HARRIS RIMMER AND SARA E DAVIES  |

Imagine Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi resigns, goes into exile, and apologises for her conduct after the Rohingya massacre. Would this improve the prospects of justice for the events in northern Rakhine State?

We think not. This kind of public diplomacy is misdirected and should be focused more firmly on the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) and its relations with the international community. There needs to be a much deeper strategy here because the military may now be emboldened in its operations against other ethnic groups, and the democratic moment is being lost. Moreover, the humanitarian situation facing those displaced is dire and unresolved.

What is the efficacy of current international advocacy efforts to promote human rights and accountability in Myanmar in response to the Rohingya mass atrocities?

The attitude of the West towards Aung San Suu Kyi may be a good example of what Cass Sunstein calls the dynamics of outrage. The West made a mistake making a saint out of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi instead of treating her as a politician, and now it may be making her a sinner without due reflection.

Saint or sinner?

Timed to coincide with her visit to Sydney for the ASEAN-Australia ministerial meeting in March, five Australian lawyers filed a private application in the Melbourne magistrates court seeking to prosecute Aung San Suu Kyi over crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya ethnic and religious minority in Myanmar. The petition noted that as minister of foreign affairs, not Myanmar head of state, she “failed to use her position of authority and power, and, as such, has permitted the Myanmar security forces to deport and forcibly remove Rohingya from their homes.”

Let’s unpack the three assumptions in this sentence: authority, power, and the impunity of Myanmar’s security forces, to illustrate why the international response has struggled to mount an effective attack on who is responsible for failing to protect the Rohingya from displacement and mass atrocities.

Please click here to read the full “Justice for the Rohingya: Aung San Suu Kyi as saint or sinner?” article at the Australian Outlook by Associate Professor Susan Harris Rimmer and Griffith Asia Institute member, Associate Professor Sara Davies.