After meetings with officials from Indonesia, Malaysia and the United States, Myanmar’s government has done a 180 and is now committed to attending a summit in Bangkok on May 29 that it previously said it would boycott.
The government had objected to participating as long as the word “Rohingya” was used to describe the Muslim refugees fleeing western Rakhine state in droves, and they’ve now gotten their way.
“The term ‘irregular migrant’ will be used instead,” presidential spokesman U Zaw Htay said, as quoted by the New York Times. “They can’t pressure us. We won’t accept any pressure. We need the right approach to resolve the problem.”
The government disputes the term, contending they are immigrants. The officially accepted word is “Bengali.”
The about face comes after Malaysia and Indonesia sent senior officials to Myanmar, as did the US, whose local embassy posted photos of Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken arriving in the city and meeting with President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw (see above).
Photo: Facebook/US Embassy Rangoon
Main photo: AFP
