Genocide charge dents halo of Myanmar's Suu Kyi

When Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi walked into International Court of Justice last month, she gambled remaining shreds of her hard-won international reputation on a rebuttal of accusations that her country's military committed gecide against mirity Rohingya Muslims.

court was t persued. This past week, it ordered Myanmar to take all possible measures to prevent gecide against Rohingya.

Suu Kyi's willingness to defend human rights abuses on global st was a move more likely aimed at burnishing her nationalist credential at home rar than swaying court.

For her former mirers, Suu Kyi's defense only underlined her responsibility for failing to at least speak out in defense of Rohingya.

"With this ICJ ruling, she has suffered a spectacular fall from grace," said Bill Richardson, a former U.S. congressman and U.N. ambassor. “She has gone from a bel Prize champion of democracy to just ar dictator wanting to maintain her power by defending military repression, gecide, and banishment of Rohingya.”

After taking helm of Myanmar's nascent pro-democracy movement in 1988, Suu Kyi's brave defiance of military rule, at high personal cost, me her object of worldwide ulation. She won 1991 bel Peace Prize, cited for being “one of most extraordinary examples of civil cour in Asia in recent deces.”

When her nviolent struggle finally paid off in 2015 with a smashing election victory by her National League for Democracy party, re was optimism that Myanmar h finally turned a corner after deces of military rule.

Former President Barack Obama commended Suu Kyi for "her tireless efforts and sacrifice over so many years to promote a more inclusive, peaceful, and democratic" Myanmar.

n came crackdown.

In 2017, Myanmar security forces launched a counterinsurgency operation in western Rakhine state that, compelling evidence shows, involved mass rape, killings and burning of entire vills. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Banglesh, reluctant to return until ir basic rights including citizenship are guaranteed.

As magnitude of Rohingya trdy emerged, 1984 bel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu felt compelled to appeal to Suu Kyi.

"My dear sister: If political price of your ascension to highest office in Myanmar is your silence, price is surely too steep. ... We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene," South African wrote in an open letter.

Richardson is less diplomatic in expressing his dismay.

He h accepted Suu Kyi's invitation to join an visory board on Rakhine crisis. But in early 2018, when he suggested to Suu Kyi that two Reuters reporters arrested for exposing abuse by security forces be released, she reacted furiously. Disillusioned, he quit board.

“I could see reformer and former champion of democracy ... turning into a power-loving and entrenched leer,” he said. "She was becoming an apologist for military so she could hold onto her power and get reelected. She simply could t tolerate any dissent, even from her longtime friends and supporters like myself."

Political realities play an important role in Suu Kyi's position. Despite her party's landslide election victory, military retains huge influence in government due to clauses it inserted in constitution.

To exercise real power, her party must mobilize popular and electoral support.

After she led her country's delegation at initial hearings last month at International Court of Justice, she returned to Myanmar to cheering crowds lining streets.

“Undoubtedly, ahe of an election year, her decision to personally defend case, making it about her, and using it as an opportunity to whip up nationalism, has boosted her public support ahe of an election year," wrote Burma Campaign UK, a lobbying group that h been her ally against military rule.

re's also a more personal aspect to Suu Kyi's predicament, some expert say.

Her far, Gen. Aung San, was country's independence hero. She was only 2 years old when he was assassinated by political rivals in 1947, a year before freedom from Britain.

"Although she talks a lot about democracy, I think she has a more messianic concept of her present and future role, based on her far's reputation," David Steinberg, a professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, said in an email interview last month.

Suu Kyi entered Myanmar's politics in 1988, when she returned from a life spent mostly abro to nurse her dying mor. She became swept up in a popular revolt against military rule, and shot to fame as her far's daughter with a speech to hundreds of thousands of people.

“Her moral authority in Myanmar is predicated on aura of her far and what he represents, and in fact that she came in to 'save country' in 1988 and endured so many years under house arrest,” said Jane Ferguson, a senior lecturer in anthropology at Australian National University.

Asked once in a BBC interview about her reputation as a saintly figure, Suu Kyi replied: “I am just a politician. I am t quite like Margaret Thatcher, , but on or hand, I am Mor Teresa eir. I have never said that I was. Mahatma Gandhi, actually, was a very astute politician.”