On 13 September 2018, Aung San Suu Kyi, the celebrated human rights activist and dissident, said the jailing of two Reuters journalists reporting on the Rohingya refugee crisis was not because of their profession, and that their imprisonment was not a government crackdown on free speech.  Responding to a question during the ASEAN World Economic Forum in Hanoi, Vietnam, Suu Kyi stated that “[the imprisonment] had nothing to do with the freedom of expression at all; it had to do with the Official Secrets Act.”  The two journalists, Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were convicted on official secrets charges on 3 September.  The reporters were detained by Burmese police on 12 December 2017 as they were investigating the killing of ten Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in the western border state of Rakhine.

International organizations, human rights organizations, and several Western countries have condemned both the verdict and State Counsellor Suu Kyi’s response.  The European Union called for the reporters’ immediate release and said that the reporters had not received a fair trial.  Its High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said, “Many observers saw this trial as a test of freedom of the media, democracy, and the rule of law in the country.  It is pretty clear that the test was failed.”  Meanwhile, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, called Suu Ky’s remarks as “unbelievable.”  Reuters’ Editor-in-Chief, Stephen J. Adler, called the verdict as “a major step backward for Myanmar’s transition to democracy.”  Kyaw Min Swe, a journalist from Myanmar and executive director of the Myanmar Journalism Institute, told Deutsche Welle that Suu Kyi’s government was trying to “muzzle and control the media.”

In a country that only recently reestablished a democratic form of government, after enduring decades of military junta rule, positive projections of reform, democratization, and support for the rule of law remain to be seen.  The hopes for liberal democracy and a transformation of civil society in Myanmar as a result of Aung San Suu Kyi’s overwhelming victory in the 2015 general elections have yet to be realized.  Suu Kyi’s response to the trial and silence on the plight of Rohingya Muslims have certainly called into question whether the influence of the military—so attached to the junta years—has disappeared.  If Aung San Suu Kyi wants to retain her image as a human rights icon in Southeast Asia, she must use her role as de facto leader and rally her party in pushing for the democratic reforms that will protect freedom of speech and of the press (in the case of the Reuters journalists) and ease the plight of the Rohingya.

This case takes place in the backdrop of a humanitarian crisis that has been described as one of the worst humanitarian crises of the twenty-first century.  The very conflict that the two journalists were investigating has gripped the attention of the international community.  Though tensions between Muslims and Buddhists, particularly in Rakhine State, have existed for decades, the conflict came to a head in October 2016, when insurgents attacked three Burmese border posts, killing nine border officers.  Several insurgent and separatist groups claimed responsibility for the attacks, such as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA, formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin).  In response, the government sent the Burmese army to crack down on the insurgents.  Hundreds were arrested and killed, thus sparking a refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh.  In the ensuing social unrest and violence, international observers described the situation as “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide.”  According to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), over 6,700 civilians have been killed.  International leaders and human rights organizations have been critical of Suu Kyi’s response, or lack thereof, in definitively condemning the violence.

If Aung San Suu Kyi is to maintain her image as the Nobel Peace Prize winner who challenged the status quo in Burmese politics and brought forth a new democratic era to the country, it is imperative that she uses all of her available authority in peacefully resolving the situation in Rakhine State.  In a region prone to military rule and ethnic and religious conflicts, it is important that Myanmar’s fledgling democracy act as a model.