Reporter's Note: My Reflections on Myanmar’s Leader

It was in September 2013 when I first met Aung San Suu Kyi at a summit in Singapore. Wearing traditional ethnic attire in violet and red blossoms in her hair, the Myanmar leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate delivered a speech about her country’s transition, for which she received a warm round of applause. With a serious and slightly grim expression, the iconic smile was absent on her face — at least in my eyes.

Suu Kyi was 66 at that time. It was three years after she was released from house arrest. She spent 15 years in custody due to her efforts to bring democracy to then military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma. That made her an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression.

Suu Kyi’s father, Aung San, was the commander of the Burma Independence Army and helped negotiate Burma’s independence from Britain. He was assassinated on July 19, 1947, when Suu Kyi was 2 years old. At age 15, she moved to India with her mother Khin Kyi, who had been appointed the Burmese ambassador to India and Nepal in 1960. After that, Suu Kyi spent 28 years aboard — studying in Oxford, getting married — before she returned to Myanmar in 1988 to take care her dying mother.

Suu Kyi returned at a time when her country was rattled by nationwide protests against decades of military rule. Shortly after her return, she co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD), a party dedicated to nonviolence and civil disobedience, and was appointed its general secretary.

Suu Kyi once said she would have preferred to be a writer than a politician. She is widely respected for her battle for democracy under the principle of nonviolence, kindness, love and courage. She gave up her freedom to stand up against the military junta, which separated her from her husband until his death. After she was released from house arrest in November 2010, Suu Kyi was elected to the Myanmar Parliament and stepped onto the international stage. The Singapore summit was her first public appearance at an ASEAN event.

After her speech, I took the chance to ask her to comment on the relationship between China and Myanmar. It was a tricky time for the bilateral relationship as Chinese investment in Myanmar had plummeted after 2011, when the new reformist government took over and many China-backed projects in the country encountered criticism.

Suu Kyi emphasized her country’s tradition of maintaining good relations with other countries. “When the Chinese Communist government came into power, Burma was one of the first countries to recognize it. I do not see why we should not continue this policy of maintaining friendly relations with all countries of the world,” she said.

“Of course there will be more economic competition in Burma. I know that in the last couple of decades, there have been more Chinese investments than Western investments. But I think competition is healthy. It should do us a lot of good and do good for those competing above us as well,” she said, adding she would like to visit China if she received an official initiation.

In June 2016, Suu Kyi paid her first visit to China by touring Beijing, Shanghai and Yunnan. She also met with President Xi Jinping and other high-level officials. Later that year, her party won a majority in the nation’s first free parliamentary elections. But Suu Kyi was unable to become president because her late husband and two sons are British citizens. Myanmar’s constitution prohibits anyone with foreign relatives from becoming the nation’s leader.

In April 2016, Suu Kyi was named state counselor, a role created especially for her, making her the de facto leader of the country. That October, the Rohingya crisis broke in Myanmar as renewed violence compelled hundreds of thousands of Rohingya — a Muslim ethnic minority group — to flee the country, fueling a historic migration crisis.

Despite the military’s role in the crisis, the NLD government’s handling of the issue drew global criticism. Suu Kyi has seldom responded to critics over the years. But in December 2019, Suu Kyi appeared at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, to attend a hearing for a lawsuit filed by 57 Islamic countries against Myanmar, accusing it of genocide.

At the hearing, Suu Kyi defended the country’s actions, saying there was no genocide orchestrated against the Rohingya.

Calling the conflict “intercommunal violence,” Suu Kyi argued that action was against Rohingya insurgents. While disproportionate military force may have been used and civilians killed, the acts did not constitute genocide, she argued.

Calling the allegations “incomplete and misleading,” she asked for the case to be dismissed. “If war crimes have been committed by members of Myanmar’s defense services, they will be prosecuted through our military justice system in accordance with Myanmar’s constitution,” she said.

Many were disappointed by Suu Kyi’s defense, saying she had lost moral standing. But supporters countered that she is a pragmatic politician trying to govern a multiethnic country with a complex history and a Buddhist majority. Nevertheless, her image as a widely recognized icon of democracy was somehow tainted.

But Suu Kyi’s presence at The Hague won applause at home. Many in the country, whose population is 90% Buddhist, believe criticism from international communities on the Rohingya crisis unfair. They saw Suu Kyi’s trip to The Hague as an opportunity to clarify the matter to the world. When Suu Kyi announced the trip in November, people across the country gathered to show their support, a positive signal for NLD’s chances in the next election this year.

Ethnic issues have long been complicated in Myanmar. I still remembered Suu Kyi’s remarks on the issue in her 2013 speech in Singapore. Ethnic conflict is one of the great challenges in Burma,” she said. “But this conflict can be settled and, of course, has been settled in the past. This memory of victory can help us achieve another victory in the form of genuine, ethnic unity.”

“Most people are thinking of the Burmese transition in economic terms. I’m afraid there are members of our government also who think of the transition in economic terms,” she said in 2013. “But I think the success of our genuine reforms will depend on how much inclusiveness we can create in our society.”

In response to a question from the audience about ethnic conflict and the Rohingya issue, her answer is worth thinking about even today.

“It is one of the most difficult issues we have had to face in recent years. It is not just confined to Burma because there are Muslims all over the world and one can understand the concern of Muslims all over the world as to what is happening inside our country,” she said.

“I think we have to start with rule of law. That is what I have always said, but people are not satisfied with the answer because it is not exciting enough. As (Singapore) Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: ‘peace and security are important in the world today’ — very important for the future; very important for our economic progress as well as reform, stability in general. Without peace and stability, we cannot get people with differences to sit down and work out an acceptable answer. If people are frightened that they will be killed, if people are frightened that their goods will be taken away from them, or their houses will be burned down above their heads; you will not be able to persuade them to sit down to sort out their differences. So I have always said let’s talk with rule of law, let’s make sure there is no violence in a society where we have people of different religions living together. … We want a country that is at peace with itself. We want all our people, all our communities to be at peace.”

“What we would like ASEAN and the world to do for us is to be more understanding of our problem and not see it in — I hesitate to use this term — black and white — again because I used it for South Africa — but to be more aware of the nuances of the problem and not to see it as Muslim against Buddhist. It’s not that. It’s a matter of fear. I believe that hatred is rooted in fear; you hate what you fear. I have always challenged people: prove to me, whatever person or thing that you hate — that you don’t fear it. Ask yourself honestly, when you hate something, even if it’s something as simple as spiders, whether at the foundation there is fear.”

“Hate and fear are very closely linked together. To start to eliminate hate, we have to start by eliminating fear. We have to give our people a sense of security. We have to do it within the country — through rule of law, through the government taking the right measures. But I think you can help us by giving us your understanding, by understanding the reasons why the communal conflicts are taking place. It is not as simple as this community hates that community or this community wants to destroy that community. No, you have to get at the root of the matter — why are the fears there? What can we do — we inside Burma as well as all of you outside who wish us as well to eradicate these fears. Please study the situation in depth. Please do not take a superficial look and condemn one community over another. That will not help us achieve the kind of peace and understanding we need so much,” Suu Kyi told the audience.

About eight year ago when Suu Kyi was still a parliament member representing the opposition party, she was also the chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee for Rule of Law and Stability, which was designated to tackle ethnic issues. At least five members of the committee came from regions prone to ethnic conflicts. I guess at least by then, Suu Kyi had started to reflect on the country’s ethnic challenges.

Contact translator Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)

For Aung San Suu Kyi’s full speech at the Singapore summit in 2013, please click here to read and click here to listen.