Suu Kyi Roundly Criticized at Oxford University Forum

Criticism focused on Aung San Suu Kyi in particular, with concern being raised over her continuing silence on the government’s campaign against the Kachin rebels.

Aung San Suu Kyi delivers an address at Oxford University on June 20, 2012, in which she recalled her student days and said that Burma's road to the future will not be easy.

(OXFORD Mizzima News) - It has been a pivotal, some might say defining week for Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She has been the subject of harsh criticism from her supporters, the media, the international community and even her own party members, mostly over her stance on the Latpadaung copper mine.

Now various voices from her alma mater, Oxford University, have joined in the chants against the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The second Southeast Asian Studies Symposium at the university on March 8-10 was dominated by discussions centered on Myanmar after its recent re-engagement with the international world, said a report in the Oxford Student online.

Fellow Emeritus in Southeast Asian History Dr Peter Carey reportedly said that despite the positive press attention given to the country’s reforms, the developments in Myanmar “should be viewed with skepticism” and that “an opportunity for real change has been missed”.

“Criticism focused on Aung San Suu Kyi in particular, with concern being raised over her continuing silence on the government’s campaign against the Kachin rebels,” the report said. “It was also said that she had lost moral authority by failing to be more vocal on human rights abuses.”

Carey added: “Hopes are very much in shadow, and Daw Suu needs to say what needs to be said.”

Oxford Student questioned other attendees on whether the reforms were truly progressive in nature. Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK Anna Roberts is quoted as saying: “The intentions are not all democratically driven.”

The forum was held in the light of a delegation of Oxford students being selected for a two-week visit to Myanmar later this month following an invitation from Suu Kyi herself.

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