MALAYSIA has condemned yesterday’s (Aug 15) decision by a Myanmar court to sentence its deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison after she was found guilty in four corruption cases.
The Nobel laureate was reportedly found guilty of misusing funds from the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation – an organisation she founded promoting health and education – to build a home and leasing Government-owned land at a discounted rate.
To date, Suu Kyi, who is being held in solitary confinement in a Naypyitaw jail, has been charged with at least 18 offences ranging from graft to election violations, carrying combined maximum jail terms of nearly 190 years.
She denies all charges against her.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah said Suu Kyi’s “additional sentencing” proves that the Myanmar military, which currently governs the country, “repeatedly disregards” calls by other ASEAN members for concrete and inclusive dialogue in the interest of reconciliation in Myanmar.
This was also clear given the recent execution of four democracy activists in Myanmar, he said on Twitter today.
He added that the junta had failed to fulfill the five-point consensus (5PC) to end the country’s turmoil, which had been agreed upon at the ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, in April 2021.
The 5PC are an immediate end to violence in the country; dialogue among all parties; the appointment of a special envoy; humanitarian assistance by ASEAN, and; the special envoy’s visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties.
“Malaysia stands with the people of Myanmar and supports the call for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate release to begin the process of peaceful and inclusive dialogue with all stakeholders, including the country’s National Unity Government (NUG) and National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC),” Saifuddin said.
Turmoil
Myanmar has been in turmoil ever since the military last year overthrew an elected Government led by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party (despite the latter winning the general election) and led a deadly crackdown on dissent.
According to news reports, tens of thousands of people have been jailed and many tortured, beaten or killed, in what the United Nations (UN) has branded as “crimes against humanity”.
The international community has since imposed sanctions on the military and dismissed Suu Kyi’s “secretive” trials as farcical.
“It’s a massive assault against her rights, and part of the campaign to bury her and the NLD forever,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said, Reuters reported.
Reuters, which broke the story about yesterday’s court sentence, said the military Government’s spokesperson Zaw Min Tun could not be reached for comment.
The agency also noted that Zaw had previously said Suu Kyi is being given due process by an independent judiciary and that it rejects foreign criticism as “interference”.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of the leader of Myanmar’s campaign for independence from British colonial, led the country for five years before being forced from power in the February 2021 coup. – Aug 16, 2022
Main photo credit: Reuters
