Suu Kyi criticised for failing minority

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok

BURMA'S pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be awarded Washington's highest honour next week amid criticism that she has failed to speak up for almost 1 million persecuted Rohingya Muslims living in her country.

Ms Suu Kyi, 67, will receive the Congressional Gold Medal for enduring more than 20 years of personal denigration and 15 years of house arrest as she became the voice of Burma's downtrodden. But human rights groups and some academics have expressed disappointment she has dodged questions on the plight of the Rohingya, stateless people who are widely reviled by Burma's Buddhist majority. One Scottish academic has even suggested she return her 1991 Nobel peace prize.

On the eve of a visit to the US to accept Washington's highest honour, Aung San Suu Kyi faces accusations of having ignored Burma's Muslim minority. Photo: AFP

Ms Suu Kyi is likely to be pressed on her views about the Rohingya during her first trip to the US since she was put under house arrest by Burma's generals in 1990. But diplomats say she would face a backlash from Burmese Buddhists, including many of her own supporters, if she was to express support for the Rohingya.

Monks who had been long-time pro-democracy advocates took to the streets of Burma's second largest city, Mandalay, for three days last week to demand that the Rohingya be deported.

Since bloody clashes erupted between Rohingya and Arakan Buddhists in Burma's western Arakan state in June, leaving an estimated 100,000 people displaced and at least 78 dead, Ms Suu Kyi has given only scripted answers about the bloodshed to journalists, referring to the need for a ''rule of law''. Ms She Suu Kyi leaves for the US on Sunday.