The Lady speaks! In her first interview in quite a while, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi spoke to Channel News Asia’s Lin Xueling for the channel’s ‘Conversation With…’ segment.
Surprisingly, Xuelin even got Suu Kyi to talk about the current crisis in Rakhine — a feat that no other media outlet has managed to accomplish ever since the region fell under military lockdown in October. Of course, this doesn’t break Suu Kyi’s history of ignoring Myanmar and Myanmar-based journalists, but right now, we’ll take what we can get.
We’ll have to wait until next week to see the full program, but Xueling did tweet out a few interesting and somewhat controversial highlights from their interview.
On accusations that she and her party have compromised with the military:
On compromising with the military –
ASSK: “It depends on what people mean by compromise, when some people say compromise…” 1/2— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
they mean compromise of principles–tt we do not do. But I always think of it simply as negotiations – learning to understand each other.”2/2 pic.twitter.com/VlEoAE1Tgv
— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
On her proudest accomplishment so far (no one tell her about Rolexgate):
What is Aung San Suu Kyi most satisfied about since coming to power 9 months ago?
ASSK: “The fact that the ministers are not corrupt.” pic.twitter.com/skkbBUt2Zy— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
On the situation in Rakhine:
ASSK: “in Rakhine, it’s not just Muslims who are nervous and worried. The Rakhines are worried too… and we want to try and make it better.”
— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
On allowing independent media investigations in Rakhine:
ASSK on allowing international observers into Rakhine: “we have allowed teams to go in and see what the situation is like… [1/2]
— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
we can’t guarantee security everywhere & we have to make sure tt whatever we allow to happen officially guarantees absolute security” [2/2]
— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
And on the big Rohingya question:
On Rohingya issue –
ASSK: “I wld appreciate it so much if the international community wld help us to maintain peace and stability…[1/2]— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
… instead of always drumming up calls for bigger fires of resentment if you like.” [2/2]
Aung San Suu Kyi on @ChannelNewsAsia #ConWithCNA— Lin Xueling (@LinXuelingCNA) 2 décembre 2016
Highlights from the interview will be shown tonight on Channel News Asia at 9pm SGT/7:30pm MMT. The full interview will air on Thursday (December 8) at 8pm SGT/6:30pm MMT on CNA.
