State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi last week sat down and penned a hand-written condolence letter of condolence to the man who allegedly sent a murderous mob after her in 2003, former dictator Than Shwe.
The note, which followed the death of the general’s son-in-law, was made public on the Facebook account of Than Shwe’s grandson on Saturday.
In 2003, Suu Kyi was on a tour around Myanmar when her convoy was attacked by a government-backed mob in Northern Myanmar’s Sagaing State. While Suu Kyi narrowly escaped, it’s widely believed as many as 70 of her supporters were massacred.
In his 2015 autobiography, former Secretary-1 of the military junta Khin Nyunt said the attack was ordered by then-State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) chairman Than Shwe, who viewed the convoy as a threat to the military’s hegemony.
Shortly after the killings — which have never been fully investigated — the SPDC ordered Suu Kyi’s house arrest and the shutdown of National League for Democracy offices around the country.
Addressing Than Shwe as “uncle” in the letter dated June 13, Suu Kyi expressed her condolences over the death of Brigadier General Thein Naing, who passed away due to a gastric-related illness, and said she wished for the well-being and good health of Than Shwe and his family in this difficult period.
In pictures of the funeral posted by local media, the 84-year-old dictator was flanked by current ranking senior military officials including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and vice military chief deputy Senior General Soe Win, who was holding Than Shwe by his right arm.
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The letter has drawn both criticism and praise on social media, with some calling it an act of kindness that showed her empathetic character, and others saying it represents kowtowing to the former dictator with an eye firmly on the 2020 general elections.
The coziness of her relationship with the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military, has been increasingly troubling said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director.
“Many NLD activists were killed or maimed in the 2003 attack on Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy but she seems to have forgotten them in her unseemly haste to form bonds with the Tatmadaw,” he said. “Her misplaced focus on the Tatmadaw as ‘my father’s’ army’* apparently makes her delusional, thinking that somehow Sr. Gen. Than Shwe and the military he still influences behind the scenes will side with her over their own interests.”
That “pipe dream” is only harming her credibility with the country’s ethnic groups and Burmese citizens alike, he continued.
“By penning letters like this to Than Shwe, it sends a signal the Tatmadaw have nothing to fear from her or the civilian government, and can continue to violate rights with impunity.”
*Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, Major General Aung San, was assassinated in 1947 and is seen by many as the father of modern Myanmar.
