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"YOUR SILENCE IS TOO A HIGH PRICE": Nobel laureate and veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Tutu condemns fellow laureate Aung Suu Kyi, calling for her to speak up for 'Muslim Rohingya' in Myanmar

8/9/2017

9 Comments

 
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Old friends: Desmond Tutu with Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon in 2013.
The Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has called on Aung San Suu Kyi to end military-led operations against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority that have driven 270,000 refugees from the country in the past fortnight.

The 85-year old archbishop said the “unfolding horror” and “ethnic cleansing” in the country’s Rahkine region had forced him to speak out against the woman he admired and considered “a dearly beloved sister”.

Despite Aung San Suu Kyi defending her government’s handling of the growing crisis, Tutu urged his fellow Nobel peace price winner to intervene.

“I am now elderly, decrepit and formally retired, but breaking my vow to remain silent on public affairs out of profound sadness,” he wrote in a letter posted on social media.

“For years I had a photograph of you on my desk to remind me of the injustice and sacrifice you endured out of your love and commitment for Myanmar’s people. You symbolised righteousness. Your emergence into public life allayed our concerns about violence being perpetrated against members of the Rohingya. But what some have called ‘ethnic cleansing’ and others ‘a slow genocide’ has persisted – and recently accelerated. It is incongruous for a symbol of righteousness to lead such a country,” said the 85-year old anti-apartheid activist. “If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep.”

Tutu joined the growing list of voices calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to do more to protect Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority as the United Nations estimated the number of refugees to have crossed into Bangladesh had reached about 270,000. A spokeswoman for the UN high commissioner for refugees, Vivian Tan, said the revised figure – an increase of nearly 130,000 on Thursday’s estimates – did not necessarily reflect fresh arrivals in the past 24 hours, “but that we have identified more people in different areas that we were not aware of before”.

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever peace prize winner, said on Monday “the world is waiting” for Aung San Suu Kyi to act. “Every time I see the news, my heart breaks,” she wrote on Twitter. “Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same”.

On Tuesday, the United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said the government clearance operations in Rakhine “risked” ethnic cleansing.

A Change.org petition to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi’s Nobel peace prize had reached 377,332 signatures by Friday. On Thursday, Aung San Suu Kyi made her first spoken remarks on the crisis in Rakhine since government crackdowns began last month. “It is a little unreasonable to expect us to solve the issue in 18 months,” she told the Delhi-based network Asian News International. “The situation in Rakhine has been such since many decades. It goes back to pre-colonial times.”

On Friday, Tutu used his open letter to urge Aung San Suu Kyi to intervene and speak out.

“As we witness the unfolding horror we pray for you to be courageous and resilient again,” he said. “We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene in the escalating crisis and guide your people back towards the path of righteousness again. Source: The Guardian
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HATE TWEETS ON SHOT JOURNALIST GAURI LANKESH:
One commented: “You reap what you sow.” Another wrote in Hindi: “A bitch died a dog’s death and all of her litter is crying in the same voice.”

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Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also come under fire for not blocking his followers on Twitter who have been praising the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, a fierce advocate of secularism and a frequent critic of right-wing ideology. Some of those who attacked her on Twitter after the killing claim close ties to BJP leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has never blocked or unfollowed anyone on Twitter" and his following someone is "not a character certificate", his party said after accounts followed by Modi posted vicious and abusive messages celebrating or justifying the murder of Lankesh. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party of Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP's explanation is transparent. "While we fight trolls, PM Modi ignites them," said the Congress in a statement.

Modi has also come under criticism for not speaking up for Rohingyas

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As India hardens its stand on Rohingya refugees, PM Modi told Myanmar New Delhi shares its concern

"We thoroughly understand the challenges that you have been facing. We are partners in your concerns, over the loss of lives of security forces and innocent people due to the extremist violence in Rakhine State," Indian Prime Minister Modi tells Aung Suu Kyi on visit to Mynamar

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Fijileaks: We would like to remind Aung Suu Kyi of another Nobel laureate's distant voice from the past:

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Even Buddhism has lost its non-violence and humane teachings, with monks beating each other up in the street:

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A copy of VICTOR LAL's lecture ‘Religion, Violence, ISIS and Gandhi’s Encounter with Islam and Caliphate’, which he delivered at the Centre for Peace Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway, in October 2015, can be obtained from
Fijileaks: editor@fijileaks.com

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9 Comments
Walu
8/9/2017 03:34:14 pm

Our friend Victor Lal of Oxford has lost the plot. He appears deranged. Out of toych comoletely. Fiji is not the Fiji you fled baiya. Stop your mischief making rubbish. Leave it to people who dared to stay and not flee like a lamu sona, to reconstruct our himeland, Fiji. And it is not going to be Bai, Kai or Hon Lady Shameem whi will bring us salvation. We will find our own salvation. You are a cameleon Victor.

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Walu
9/9/2017 01:57:33 pm

Astrologer, you have been gazing at the stars for far too long. Do you also bark at the moon.? It is high time you came down to planet earth, otherwise you will get blind by the stars and moon, as you appear to blinded. Fosters has not been brewed on planet earth and in the continent of aussieland for decades now. The walu fish remains a tropical Fijian fish and will remain a Fijian fish even if the waters are dangerously turbulent. It is not a cold Canberra fish. You must be carping about the cold avanberra carp fish.You wont be able to get the walu out of Fiji. You are welcome home. We have just celebrated the Fiji Khaiyum Day. It was a great day off. Did you celebrate it too? Come, let's celebrate it.

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Astrologer
8/9/2017 03:53:34 pm

Walu, how many cans of Foster have you consumed in CANBERRA, Australia, matey!

Hope you travelled to Fiji lately?

Enjoy Australia

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Jigar Patel
8/9/2017 04:19:48 pm

The case in Fiji has nothing to do with rohinga muslims, Narendra Modi and what tutu and malala are farting about. by putting up all these, victor is trying to claim that muslims are victims in mynmar so its okay for kaiyum and his mob to carry out the autocracies in Fiji. FYI victor, the problem in mynmar was instigated by rohinga muslims. now they are playing the victim card to gain sympathy as always. where was/is malala, tutu and your concern for yazidi girls/women who raped by muslim, yazidi men killed , hindus raped and tourted in pakistan, bangladesh, christains and hindus persecuted in indonesia etc..Its a shame that you only see one side of the coin and have clouded your judgement that muslims are victims and other races are villans. you may choose to look the other way and turn the other cheek and claim to be gandhi but we will not. some of us can see the reality and dont have clouded judgement. you can continue your crusade to malign and aid kaiyum in crucifying hindus and christains in fiji and we will do our bit to ensure that the division created by kaiyum and co is put to an end and everyone given their just dues.

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Kali Charan
8/9/2017 05:20:58 pm

tutu and malala are hypocrats. tutu didnt condemn violence by black south africans on whites and hindus. he even didnt protest against mugabe's illtreatment of whites in zimbabwe. as for malala, she is the slut of a few donor agencies who use her to get funding for their personal agendas. they keep stiring the pot to ensure funding doesn't stop.

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Ratu
8/9/2017 06:19:37 pm

Hahaha. Tobo o Van Dam. Walu, please leave the fishes alone, Select yr aliases from another genus please.
The cold winters in Canberra must certainly affect the brain, just as the hot autumn in Oxford has affected Victor's reasoning powers. I can't see the relevance of the persecution of the Rohingya in Burma or the staying of a journalist by zealots in India to the situation in Fiji that occupies our interest. Thank yr you for making yr lecture on Gandhi and Islam at an obscure peace Research Institute in Norway available for download. It' would be of the same effect as listening to a Tutu sermon -- assured to put me to sleep, so thanks but no thanks. If u have nothing to post, Victor don't clog up yr site with irrelevancies. Stick to issues on Fiji.

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Rajend Naidu
8/9/2017 10:03:34 pm

Editor,
Conscientious Objector
Confucius said to see wrong and to not act against it - to condemn it - is moral cowardice. The wrongdoing - wherever it occurs, whenever it occurs and whatever way it occurs - whether against the Rohingya in Myanmar or the Indians in the Amazon or the West Papuans in West Papua, or the Fijians in post coup Fiji ... should be condemned by all right thinking .
The tragedy is that many right thinking decent people fail to do that - to stand up, to speak out against the wrongdoing. Or, when they do it's selective. They see the wrongs in some places and against some people and gloss over the others.
A wrong is a wrong .
Reminds me of that saying : a coup is a coup.
Doesn't matter whether the coup was crafted by Rabuka, Speight, or Bainimarama...
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

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Chiku
8/9/2017 11:56:08 pm

What can one say about Narendra Modi? How can he condemn the atrocities committed by the Myanmar State against the Rohingya Muslims?
Why was Narendra Modi banned from entering the US? Get the answer to that and you will know where Modi is coming from on his stance on the Rohingya.
Narendra Modi is in resource rich Myanmar to secure trade deals. Trade deals are of course more important than human rights and human wellbeing of an oppressed people according to a perverse worldview that has become a norm in a politically expedient world.
In this regard Narendra Modi is not unique. Many other leaders from the democratic world adopt the same stance : Paying lip service to democracy and human rights while pursuing their economic interests.

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Rajend Naidu
10/9/2017 09:09:03 pm

Editor,
The True Spirit of Religion
A church in Italy has taken in some refugees to protect them from falling prey to the dark side for survival.
Karamo, a refugee from Gambia said he endured hardships and persecution in Libya as he attempted to cross to Sicily. The refuge in the church has given him and others like him a new sense of meaning and hope in life.
What's more they have been taken in even though they are Muslims by faith ( DW News 11/09 ).
In doing what the church has done for these desperate fellow human beings, the church has shown the true spirit of religion.
Others, including State authorities in some countries, could learn from the example of this Italian Church.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

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