Aung San Suu Kyi is hosting a retreat for Asean foreign ministers today at Yangon’s Sedona Hotel, where she will explain to her guests what’s really happening in Rakahine State – a place she has not visited since violence escalated there in October and where she has has consistently sought to defend the actions of the Myanmar army.
Most of the statements issued by Asean foreign ministers ahead of today’s retreat at Yangon’s Sedona Hotel have been predictably tautological.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi rephrased the title of the retreat in a press statement issued before he left Jakarta yesterday: “I will be present at the meeting of the Asean Retreat in Yangon, which primarily will discuss developments in Rakhine State.”
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman rephrased his own job description: “The meeting will give me the opportunity to unequivocally state Malaysia’s strong position on this issue.”
Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, on the other hand, tried to get poetic. On Facebook yesterday, the top Singaporean diplomat posted a photo of Yangon’s Inya Lake with the following statement: “Just arrived in Yangon, Myanmar for an informal ASEAN meeting on developments in Rakhine state. Hope situation will be as placid as this beautiful Inya lake.”
One could give Balakrishnan the benefit of the doubt and presume that when he said “the situation”, he was referring to the meeting. That’s fair enough. Meetings of trained diplomats are often placid, for better or for worse.
But it seems like there’s a chance the foreign minister was was hoping that the war zone where the Myanmar army has been accused of ethnic cleansing, rape and arson against Rohingya civilians would somehow be placid. If that’s the case, then congratulations to The Global New Light of Myanmar for working like a charm.
Looks like Aung San Suu Kyi’s job is already done.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the post by the Singaporean foreign minister had been deleted. A link to the post on the foreign minister’s Twitter profile that was intact this morning now appears to be broken. However, the post is still up on his Facebook page. Go check it out.
