Asian Angle | What the murder of a Suu Kyi ally means for Myanmar’s imperilled Muslims
Pro-democracy lawyer was shot dead at Yangon airport, but it is unclear if contract-style killing was due to his work with the National League for Democracy – or his religion
The plight of millions of Muslims throughout Myanmar, not only those suffering the worst human-rights abuses in Rakhine State, may never have been greater than after the murder on Sunday of a prominent pro-democracy lawyer at Yangon International Airport.
On January 29, U Ko Ni, a respected 65-year-old legal adviser of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was shot dead after returning from a fact-finding trip to Indonesia.
A long-time activist, former detainee and constitutional specialist, Ko Ni was instrumental in crafting Aung San Suu Kyi’s current position as state counsellor and de facto leader of Myanmar. He had also been a staunch advocate for overhauling Myanmar’s much-derided 2008 Constitution – setting himself against more conservative forces, especially the military.
As thousands attended his funeral in the North Okkalapa Township, observers pondered whether the contract-style killing by a lone gunman was inspired by his work with NLD or because of his Muslim identity.
Certainly, the killing could not have come at a worse time for Myanmar. The treatment of the Rohingya people in Rakhine State is drawing global condemnation. This unprecedented assassination could destroy what little intra-religious trust remains between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority, increasingly one of Southeast Asia’s most intractable religious fault lines.