We often say “never again” in the wake of tragedies involving mass casualties of civilians — yet, we constantly let it happen again.
In the majority-Buddhist nation of Myanmar (otherwise known as Burma), we’re seeing the persecution, killing, and displacement of thousands to tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims by the actions of their government, led by State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
In response to an October 2016 insurgent attack on three Burmese border posts along the Bangladeshi border by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, government crackdowns by Burmese security forces on Rohingya civilians have led to widespread human rights violations. Their effort to root out insurgents has resulted in extrajudicial killings, gang rapes, and arsons against Rohingya civilians.
Just in the last week, 2,000-3,000 Rohingya civilians have been killed and thousands more injured at the hands of their government in what is being described as a “slow-burning genocide.” Villages have been burned to the ground, and 73,000 refugees have fled into neighboring Bangladesh. Close to 30,000 Rohingya Muslims have been internally displaced in the mountains, many of them without food.
It’s the type of persecution that would garner attention from President Trump. Following reports that the Islamic State was targeting religious minorities such as Christians and Yazidis in northern Iraq, then-candidate Trump not only pledged to defeat the Islamic State militarily, but also do everything in his power to save religious minorities from persecution. In his original travel ban, Trump issued a provision that would prioritize refugee claims from minority religions on the basis of religious-based persecution.
However, Myanmar isn’t Trump’s fault. The blame for this crisis falls squarely on the shoulders of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
One thing that Obama has in common with Suu Kyi, outside of both of them receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, is their horrendous track record with Muslims.
Trump might be seen by Muslim Americans as hostile, but to Muslims living abroad, Obama has been much, much worse.
While Obama pinned much of the chaos in the Middle East on his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, it was Obama’s expansion of the drone war in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia that killed hundreds of Muslim civilians.
Obama may not have triggered the Arab Spring in 2011, but his response or lack thereof to the violence in Syria, Egypt, and Libya that killed hundreds of thousands of people combined is a stain on his legacy.
Trump gets all the blame for the purported “Muslim ban,” yet it was Obama who recommended which countries to ban. In 2011, the Obama administration implemented new background checks on Iraqi refugees that slowed down the process for new visas to be issued.
Suu Kyi and Obama are two sides of the same coin. Obama may not have persecuted Muslims living in the United States, but he certainly made life hell for many of them living outside of it, including Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Obama cozied up to Suu Kyi during his time in office. He welcomed her to the White House, and even made two official visits to Myanmar. During his 2012 visit to the country, Obama praised Suu Kyi for her courage in bringing the country closer to a democracy.
“Here, through so many difficult years, is where she has displayed such unbreakable courage and determination,” Obama told reporters with Suu Kyi standing alongside. “It is here where she showed that human freedom and human dignity cannot be denied.”
In his 2014 visit, Obama was a bit more discouraged with Suu Kyi’s efforts in reforming the country’s government. But, even then, the Rohingya Muslims were being targeted to the point where Obama addressed it, saying, “Discrimination toward the Rohingya or any other religious minority, I think, does not express the kind of country, over the long term, that Burma wants to be.”
Given the fact that the persecution of Rohingya Muslims has gotten worse, Obama did little to influence Suu Kyi. And now, it’s up to Trump to end it.
Trump, on the campaign trail, was right in the sense that politicians are “all talk, no action,” especially in regards to Obama’s inaction to stop the Rohingya population from being persecuted. Trump has a chance to prove that actions speak louder than words, and in the process, prove his critics wrong.
The only question remains is: will he?
Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an assistant editor at Red Alert Politics (a sister publication to the Washington Examiner).
If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.
