Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for the South East of England since 1999, has accused Myanmar’s de facto ruler Aung San Suu Ky for reneging on a deal on civil rights for the Rohingyas.
The MEP, who is Secretary-General of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, in a recent write up in an international newspaper also explained why the Burmese people hate Rohingyas and called for action from the UK government.
He wrote, “Why are they so resented by their Burmese neighbours? Largely because, in 1942, when many Arakanese Buddhists sided with the invading Japanese, the Rohingyas stayed loyal to Britain.”
Hannan pointed out that Myanmar army commander, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, pointed explicitly to that conflict in order to justify the current repressions, telling his countrymen: “We will never let such a terrible occurrence happen again”.
Britain, in short, is already involved. Involved not only in the sense that we owe an ancestral obligation to our Rohingya auxiliaries; but also in the immediate sense that we, more than any country, helped bring about the recent democratisation of Burma. Part of the deal was that the civil rights of all Burmese, including the Rohingya, would be guaranteed.
To his credit, Boris Johnson has become the first foreign minister of a major Western country to speak out about the current persecution. The rest of us should back him, the MEP concluded.
