For decades since independence of Burma from the Great Britain, Rohingya existence has been made almost impossible with repeated pogroms, all part of a very sinister genocidal program that was participated by many Buddhists inside this multi-national/ethnic country. The military scripted their annihilation, the monks provided the justification and steered up the mob, the Buddhist politicians colluded and planned their extinction, and the hateful mob carried out the blueprint. It was a sad story, repeated time and again.

One would rather like to believe that such persecution or the slow genocide of the Rohingya people would stop with the election that brought the NLD into power. But Myanmar sadly lives in the past and reform seems to be a mirage. It continues to remain an apartheid state where the rights of Muslim and other minorities have no value to the Buddhist majority nation.

Otherwise, how do we explain that the persecution of the Rohingyas would continue with Suu Kyi’s NLD coming to power in Myanmar? More difficult is to even imagine that Myanmar’s armed forces would still continue to commit serious crimes like gang rape and murder of Rohingya women. For too long rape was used as a weapon of war to scare and evict the minorities in Myanmar. Should not such crimes stop with the election win of the NLD? But facts are unpleasant and grim. Such crimes are happening. This is absolutely unacceptable and her government must investigate and punish the guilty military personnel severely so that it sends a stern message that such old norms are not going to be tolerated in today’s Myanmar. But will she do the needful?.