Once a human rights icon whose determination in the face of a brutal dictatorship won her the Nobel Peace Prize and the adulation of crowds in Rangoon, the city of her birth, and abroad, where she spent much of her life, she’s now become something crass—a politician, and not a particularly good one. As the country changes fast, so are perceptions of its freedom fighter, whose name for years could not be uttered in public, and who therefore became, simply, “the Lady.” It turns out Suu Kyi is no Mandela. Given what she’s willing to do in the name of politics, she is no lady, either. (…)
“Everyone’s kind of realizing she’s a petulant politician.”
That interpretation of her conduct throws into question the genuineness of her past commitments. “It looks like human rights was a tool used by both Aung San Suu Kyi and all the opposition to get international support and sanctions during the military regime,” says Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a humanitarian group that works for Rohingya rights. “Suddenly now the talk is no longer about human rights—which is a bit sad.”
