Myanmar’s new probe body is a sham

In a recent development, a new body has been set up by the government of Myanmar to investigate allegations of human rights violation of Rohingya in Rakhine state. However, activists are calling out the lack of credibility of the 13-member commission which includes no Muslims and is being led by Vice President Myint Swe, a close confidant of the former junta leader Than Shwe. This comes during the visit of former UN Secretary General and Nobel Laureate Kofi Annan to Yangon where he spoke with Rakhine and Muslim representatives on December 1.

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There is little doubt that the questionable homegrown commission is simply a tool to temporarily quell the backlash that Suu Kyi is facing as a result of her silence and inaction on the army crackdown in the northwest, resulting in at least 86 deaths and 10,000 fleeing to Bangladesh. Also, the appointment of Vice President Myint Swe as the head of the supposed independent investigative body is suspicious at best given his close affiliation to the army and the latter's persistent denial of raping women, killing civilians and torching houses. Suu Kyi has even gone on record to blame the international community for stoking tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in the country and remind us that the military response was launched as a response to attacks by Muslim insurgents. Suu Kyi's statements not only ignore the power dynamics at play -- the army versus the stateless Rohingya -- and decades of persecution of the minority but also the government's continued refusal to acknowledge any part of the blame. These diversionary tactics that detract attention from the gross rights abuses of the Rohingya must come to an end.

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For any new probe body to have a semblance of legitimacy and impartiality, representatives of the Rohingya must be included. Criticism and outrage of the Myanmar government's handling of the issue should not be placated due to the appearance of this new "investigative" body which does not consist of a single, legitimate spokesperson of the Rohingya. Suu Kyi -- a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and a supposed exemplar of democracy -- and her government can and must do better to protect the integrity of any investigation into the latest bout of violence against the Rohingya as a result of Myanmar's brutal counterinsurgency campaign. The rights abuses of the Rohingya are well-documented and there is growing sympathy to their cause in the global arena. Any insincere, deceptive and/or unworkable measure taken by Suu Kyi's government will not go unnoticed.

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The writer is a member of the Editorial team, The Daily Star.