Interview with the Son of Aung San Suu Kyi: Kim Aris

Jul 12, 2024 | Aung San Suu Kyi is known as the mother of Myanmar. Her tireless quest for democracy saw her spend decades under house arrest but eventually when the military junta allowed elections in 2015 she rose to power. However, a subsequent military coup in 2021 led to her arrest and disappearance. In this edition of the Newsmakers, we speak to her son, Kim Aris, about his mother's condition and the fight for democracy in Myanmar that the world seems to have forgotten.

Guest: Kim Aris Youngest Son of Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi's Partial Pardon Means 'Nothing,' Says Son

Aug 3, 2023 | A partial pardon by Myanmar's ruling military of jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi means ‘absolutely nothing,’ her younger son Kim Aris said, calling on Western governments to do more to step up pressure on the junta.

Myanmar junta's partial pardon of Suu Kyi means 'absolutely nothing', says son »

Related video here.

Myanmar Junta Pardons Ousted Leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Ex-President Win Myint after Postponing Polls

Aug 1, 2023 | Myanmar’s military junta issued a partial pardon for the country’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on August 1, 2023. The junta’s governing body dropped five of the 19 offences for which she was convicted and cut her 33-year jail term by six years. Ex-president Win Myint also had his sentence reduced by four years. But both will reportedly remain in detention.

Myanmar’s Junta Condemned over Guilty Verdicts in Aung San Suu Kyi Trial

THE GUARDIAN: First verdicts announced in cases against Myanmar’s former leader, who was deposed in a coup in February

Aung San Suu Kyi. Photograph: Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images
A military court in Myanmar has found Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of incitement and breaking Covid restrictions, drawing condemnation from the United Nations, European Union and others, who described the verdicts as politically motivated.

The 76-year-old, who was deposed in a coup in February, is set to serve two years in detention at an undisclosed location, a sentence reduced from four years after a partial pardon from the country’s military chief, state TV reported.

The court in the capital Naypyidaw was delivering its first verdicts in numerous cases brought against Aung San Suu Kyi that have previously been described by her lawyer as absurd.

“The conviction of the state counsellor following a sham trial in secretive proceedings before a military-controlled court is nothing but politically motivated,” UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said. » | Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent | Monday, December 6, 2021

En Birmanie, la junte militaire inflige sa première condamnation à Aung San Suu Kyi : Condamnée à quatre ans de prison, l’ancienne dirigeante qui s’était opposée au coup d’Etat militaire du 1er février est sous le coup de nombreuses autres inculpations. »

Myanmars Militärjunta macht Aung San Suu Kyi politisch mundtot: Mindestens zwölf Anklagepunkte liegen gegen die einstige Ikone der myanmarischen Demokratiebewegung, Aung San Suu Kyi, vor. In einem ersten Verfahren ist sie am Montag zu vier Jahren Haftstrafe verurteilt worden. Stunden später wurde die Strafe auf zwei Jahre reduziert. Die Bevölkerung Myanmars versinkt abermals in Armut. »

Birmanie : Aung San Suu Kyi condamnée à 4 ans de prison, la peine réduite de moitié par la junte : Un tribunal birman a condamné lundi l'ex-cheffe du gouvernement civil pour incitation aux troubles publics et violation des règles sanitaires liées au Covid-19. La junte annoncé plus tard dans la journée une réduction de cette peine. »

Myanmar Police Defect to Anti-government Militias as Civil War Looms - BBC News

Jul 7, 2021 • As Myanmar heads towards a new civil war, the police are coming under intense pressure to decide whether to stay loyal to the military or join the civilian militia, the People’s Defence Force.

Since the military coup on 1 February, police have been used to brutally suppress mass protests. Some protesters have taken up arms to fight back, forming civilian militias called the People’s Defence Force.

The BBC has been given rare access to the first group of police officers who defected and joined the people’s side. Some of those officers even say they’re prepared to use their weapons against their former colleagues.

The World This Week: Myanmar’s Ethnic Cleansing; Duterte Takes On the Church

Inside Story: Will Aung San Suu Kyi Do Something to Halt the Violence in Myanmar?

Global pressure is mounting on Myanmar and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end the killing and displacement of Muslim Rohingya.

The United Nations has urged the government to take "immediate steps" to stop the violence. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the killings "Catastrophic" and "completely unacceptable".

He says the Myanmar military should suspend its operation in the western Rakhine state and allow Rohingya to return to their villages.

At least 400,000 people have fled to Bangladesh since the violence escalated late last month. So, as more Rohingya flee to Bangladesh, what will it take to stop this violence?

Presenter: Jane Dutton | Guests: Phil Robertson - Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch; Maung Zarni - Visiting Fellow on Myanmar at the London School of Economics and founder of the Free Burma Coalition; Abdul Rasheed - Founder and Chairman at the Rohingya Foundation Community

THE DEBATE - Burma and the Rohingyas: UN Body Accuses Authorities of Ethnic Cleansing

A textbook case of ethnic cleansing says the UN's top human rights official. Nearly 400,000 Rohingyas have fled Burma in the past fortnight for neighboring Bangladesh after skirmishes between local militants and authorities triggered a fierce backlash. The plight of the Rohingyas has stirred indignation across the Muslim world in places like Indonesia and Turkey's First Lady dispatched to Bangladesh to support relief efforts. So what should the wider international community do?

Aung San Suu Kyi's Fall from Grace? – BBC Newsnight

What is Aung San Suu Kyi's responsibility for the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar? Mark Urban reports.

Normalising Trump: The US Media Whitewash – The Listening Post | Full

How the US media begins the process of 'normalising' Donald Trump; plus, reporting the rise of the right in Germany.

Right-wing Buddhist Leading the Campaign to Force Muslims Out of Burma Says He Wants His Group 'To Be Like the English Defence League'

MAIL ONLINE: Venerable Wirathu is leader of Burma's '969' campaign to boycott Muslims / He was jailed for nine years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim violence / Says he wants to be like EDL who 'protect the public without violence'

The English Defence League might be the last place you would expect a devout Buddhist monk to turn for inspiration.

But a right-wing spiritual leader in Burma has revealed how he wants to copy the EDL in his bid to rid his country of its Muslim minority.

The Venerable Ashin Wirathu, who was jailed for nine years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim violence, says the hardline nationalist party should be applauded for 'not carrying out violence, but protecting the public'.

His comments come a week after more than 1,000 EDL members marched on Downing Street in a protest over the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in nearby Woolwich, swilling beer, chanting anti-Muslim slogans and clashing with anti-fascist activists. Thirteen people were arrested.

Now, orange-robed Wirathu, who leads Burma's so-called '969' campaign to boycott Islamic businesses and bring an end to inter-marriage with Buddhists, says he wants his gang members to be more like the EDL.

According to The Times, Wirathu said: 'People give me various names: The Burmese bin Laden, the bald neo-Nazi. '[But] do you know the English Defence League? We would like to be like the EDL. Not carrying out violence, but protecting the public.' » | Matt Blake | Friday, May 31, 2013

Muslims and Buddhists Clash in Northern Myanmar
REUTERS.COM: (Reuters) - Muslims and Buddhists clashed in Myanmar's northern city of Lashio on Tuesday, witnesses said, as a wave of sectarian violence reached a mountainous region near China's border.

Phone lines were down in the city of about 131,000 people and the extent of the violence was unclear. Witnesses reported several large fires and said a mosque and Buddhist monastery appear to have been torched.

The violence followed unrest between Muslims and Buddhists in other parts of Myanmar over the past year, including fighting in the central city of Meikhtila in March that killed at least 44 people, mostly Muslims, and razed several Muslim neighborhoods. About 12,000 people lost their homes.

Lashio, capital of Shan State, had been spared from the religious unrest. Known for its strong Chinese influence, it is about 190 km (120 miles) from Muse, a city on China's border. » | Reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Pravin Char | Yangon | Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Obama Urges Myanmar to Stop Violence against Muslims
REUTERS.COM: (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged the president of Myanmar on Monday to take steps to halt violence against Muslims in his country and move ahead with economic and political reforms.

Thein Sein became the first head of Myanmar to visit the White House in 47 years, and he and Obama sat down for talks in the Oval Office.

Obama said the Myanmar leader had assured him that he intends to move forward on releasing more political prisoners and institutionalizing political reforms that have already taken place. Thein Sein also vowed to resolve ethnic conflicts by incorporating all communities into the political process, Obama said.

"I also shared with President Sein our deep concern about communal violence that has been directed at Muslim communities inside Myanmar. The displacement of people, the violence directed towards them needs to stop," Obama said.

Sein, speaking through a translator, said his country faces a "daunting task" in carrying out reforms but said for democracy to flourish in Myanmar the reforms must be carried out in the years ahead. » | Paul Eckert | Washington | Monday, May 20, 2013

Myanmar Muslims Live in Constant Fear
Muslim villagers in Myanmar say they are living in constant fear of more attacks by Buddhists. Last week Muslim areas in the town of Okkan, to the north of the largest city, Yangon, became the latest target.

Myanmar Faces Call for Religious Segregation
Buddhist leaders in Rakhine state say integration with minority Muslim Rohingyas is unacceptable and problematic.

Burmese Government Accused of Failing to Stop Anti-Muslim Violence
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Burmese government has been accused of failing to protect its religious minorities after human rights campaigners claimed that entire districts of a Muslim-inhabited coastal town were destroyed in communal violence.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch released satellite images which it said showed that more than 800 buildings and houseboats had been razed in the town of Kyaukpyu, in western Burma's Rakhine state.

It said the victims of the violence were mainly Rohingya Muslims, thousands of whom have fled the area since tensions with Burma's majority Buddhist population flared anew. Officials say that at least 67 people have been killed and 95 wounded in the past week.

Long-running tensions between the two groups first flared back in June, when accusations that a group of Muslim men were responsible for the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman led to 80 deaths and 75,000 people fleeing their homes.

While the Rakhine Buddhists claim to have been the victim of pogroms themselves, the Rohingya Muslims claim to have borne the brunt of the violence. » | Colin Freeman | Saturday, October 27, 2012

Burma Abolishes Media Censorship

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Burma said it had abolished media censorship on Monday in the latest in a series of rapid democratic reforms, delighting journalists who lived for decades under the shadow of the censors' marker pen.

Draconian pre-publication checks - applied in the past to everything from newspapers to song lyrics and even fairy tales - were a hallmark of life under the generals who ran the country for almost half a century until last year.

"This is a great day for all journalists in Myanmar, who have laboured under these odious restrictions for far too many years," said a senior editor at a Yangon weekly publication who preferred not to be named.

"It is also another encouraging example of the progress that the country is making under [President] Thein Sein's government," he added.

Media reforms have already brought a lighter touch from the once ubiquitous censors, with less controversial publications freed from scrutiny last year.

Political and religious journals were the last to be allowed to go to press without pre-approval from the censors starting from Monday. » | AFP | Monday, August 20, 2012

Oppositionsführerin Suu Kyi in Genf
Burmas Oppositionsführerin Aung San Suu Kyi ist zum Auftakt ihrer Europareise in Genf eingetroffen. Die Friedensnobelträgerin wird am Abend mit Aussenminister Didier Burkhalter zusammentreffen und über die Lage in Burma sprechen.

State of Emergency in Myanmar Following Riots
Curfew imposed in Rakhine following clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that left seven dead and many houses razed.

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi 'Wins Seat' in Historic Election

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Aung San Suu Kyi's party claims she has won a seat in Burma's parliament after Sunday's historic election, setting the stage for her to hold public office for the first time.

The victory, if confirmed, marks a major milestone in the Southeast Asian nation, where the military has ruled almost exclusively for a half-century and where the government is now seeking legitimacy and a lifting of Western sanctions.

The victory claim was displayed on a digital signboard above the opposition National League for Democracy's headquarters in Rangoon.

Earlier, the party said in unofficial figures that Ms Suu Kyi was ahead with 65 per cent of the vote in 82 of her constituency's 129 polling stations. Read on and comment » | Dean Nelson | Rangoon | Sunday, April 01, 2012

My comment:

If anyone deserves to win in this election, this lady does. She has suffered and struggled. My heartfelt congratulations to her. – © Mark

This comment also appears here