“Opposition forces in the Parliament including Aung San Suu Kyi have been neutralized by the government by giving them posts in the Parliament. So, she can no longer speak for the rights of the people, ”Hkun Htun Oo told reporters at a news conference in Washington. Hkun Htun Oo is the chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy. He was arrested in 2005 for opposing the military regime, but was released earlier this year in a presidential amnesty.
Hkun Htun Oo said that the Burmese Government has neutralized all those who try to speak against them by offering them positions in the administration, parliament or other bodies.
“If she goes on like this she will not represent the people. She does not say anything for the public,” Hkun Htun Oo continued. He said he resented Suu Kyi’s statement that she supported the lifting of sanctions. . “The military junta has brainwashed generations of Burmese to hold the darker skinned Rohingya in contempt. It is the only genocide in the world where the twin evils of racism and religious bigotry are at work,” said Raafay Mohammad, a Task Force board member.
“We urge the (US) State Department not to lift the import sanctions on Burma till it restores the citizenship rights of Rohingya, rehabilitates the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, brings the perpetrators to justice, and institutes anti-racism curriculum in Burmese schools,” he said.
Aung Din of the US Campaign for Burma said that the democratic and political reforms in the country are fragile and reversible. More than 300 political prisoners are still in jail, and there is a need to continue the international pressure, He said. If all the sanctions were lifted, the international community would have no leverage on the Burmese government, he argued. Countries including the US must make their own judgment on sanctions and not be driven by what Suu Kyi says. “For me this is not the time to lift all the sanctions,” he said, adding that the Burmese government has already been given too much by the international community