She reportedly made the statements to BBC journalist Mishal Husain.
She might be Nobel Peace Prize winner but in an interview, Aung San Suu Kyi exhibited a side of herself that is at odds with her iconic image. According to the Daily Mail, in 2013, she lost her cool at BBC Today presenter Mishal Husain, who gave her a rough ride, and reportedly muttered off-air: “No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim.”
According to a new book, The Lady And The Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi And Burma’s Struggle For Freedom, by Peter Popham, when she was asked to condemn the anti-Islamic sentiment and massacres of Muslims in Myanmar, she declined to do so. Instead she said: “I think there are many, many Buddhists who have also left the country for various reasons. This is a result of our sufferings under a dictatorial regime.”
Muslims make up 4% of the Myanmar and the Rohingya Muslims often bear the brunt of the violence. The Rohingya are forbidden from becoming citizens and have no political say.
Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy party to a historic win in the November 8 elections, and will replace a nominally civilian, military-backed government that has been in power since 2011. Before that, Myanmar was ruled by the military since 1962. During that time, the junta kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for several years, and jailed hundreds of her supporters and other critics. While the government has released more than 1,100 detainees over the years, some remain in jails.
Amnesty International says it knows of almost 100 political prisoners still behind bars, while hundreds of other activists are in detention or waiting for their trials to end.
The outgoing government and Suu Kyi's party have not yet commented on the report.
Amnesty also called on the new government to review all cases and ensure no peaceful activists are imprisoned and to amend or repeal all laws used to crack down on human rights.
The NLD's willingness to free prisoners of conscience is not in doubt, but it may not be able to do so: The Corrections Department is under the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs.
Even after "we have the new government and parliament, they will not have the full authority to manage the country," said Bo Kyi of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. "The Constitution says the commander-in-chief is the most powerful person in the country." The laws themselves have also been applied in ways that add to their severity against dissenters and activists. In one such case, Htin Kyaw is serving 13 years and 10 months for distributing leaflets criticising the government. He was charged with the same offence separately in all 11 townships where he handed out the leaflets.
With agency inputs
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