Asian Angle | Time to take back Aung San Suu Kyi’s Nobel Peace Prize
Myanmar’s leader has been silent on the plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that is being systematically oppressed by Buddhist extremists and the government
The Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF), with which I have been associated for the past few years, is a remarkable event, for several reasons. It has been variously described as ‘Davos for dissidents,’ and ‘Aspen for activists,’ because it brings together people from all over the world who are fighting the good fight for democracy and human rights – invariably at great personal risk. These amazing people gather in the Norwegian capital to tell stories about their struggle, which are always inspiring, and which sometimes reduces the audience to tears.
The official high point of the OFF is the annual awarding of the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, but for me the real satisfaction comes from being part of private conversations, in which the activists share advice and best practices with each other. It’s fascinating to observe how the techniques and tactics that you develop in the fight against the tyrants in Cuba, for instance, can come in handy for people struggling against tyrants in North Korea, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
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This year’s speakers included exiled Bangladeshi secular publisher Ahmedur Rashid ‘Tutul’ Choudhury, the deposed Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, Pakistani squash player Maria Toorpakai Wazir, and Burmese Rohingya activist Wai Wai Nu… and that’s just to name those from India’s neighbourhood. The Havel Prize went to the Venezuelan satirical website El Chiguire Bipolar, Zimbabwean playwright Silvano Mudzvova, and Bahraini poet Ayat Alqormozi.
But perhaps the most remarkable thing at this year’s OFF actually got almost no attention at all. During his speech, Thor Halvorssen, the forum’s founder, noted how “profoundly heartbreaking” it was that Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent on the plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that is being systematically oppressed by Buddhist extremists and the Myanmese government. Why is a line in a speech important? Because Suu Kyi was among the first recipients of the Havel Prize, one of many she got when she was a human-rights icon, and yet this was the first time I had heard direct criticism from someone who had previously honoured her.
Halvorssen’s words were on my mind when, later that evening, I walked to the Nobel Peace Centre on the Oslo harbour. This lovely, light-yellow building is a museum to the Peace Laureates and their work. (The Nobel Peace prize is awarded at the imposing town hall across the square; all the other Nobels are given in Stockholm, Sweden.) Suu Kyi has been honoured at the museum since she won the prize, in 1991.