Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Skips Conflict-Torn State on Campaign Trail

By SHIBANI MAHTANI

The Rohingya minority has become a political tinderbox for democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi

SITTWE, Myanmar—As opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi makes her way across Myanmar, campaigning for her party ahead of this fall’s national election, she is noticeably skipping at least one state: Rakhine, home to the Rohingya Muslims at the center of Southeast Asia’s refugee crisis.

The Rohingya have become a political tinderbox for Ms. Suu Kyi. Outside Myanmar, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has been denounced for not condemning the conditions that drove thousands of Rohingya to flee on human-trafficking boats.

But inside Buddhist-majority Myanmar—which is preparing to hold its freest elections in decades—Ms. Suu Kyi risks losing voter support if she appears too sympathetic to the Rohingya. That could deny her National League for Democracy party enough seats in parliament to shape Myanmar’s democratic future.

Already, some Buddhists here think she has shown too much support for the minority group.

“We in Rakhine state hate Aung San Suu Kyi,” said San Thar Aung, a Buddhist driver in Sittwe, the state’s capital. “She has spoken out too strongly for the Muslims, and blamed us unfairly.”

Such sentiments are echoed by some nationalist monks in other parts of Myanmar, who say Ms. Suu Kyi’s party would favor Muslims and other minorities at a time when explosive religious divisions are at a high.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/suu-kyi-skips-conflict-torn-state-on-campaign-trail-1435795060

she is not the only person or country that is seen to favour Muslims