Myanmar is in collapse. The country has experienced unrelenting conflict since the military coup in February 2021, with popular crimes, thousands of lost lives, and more than two million people displaced.
With the prison of all elected officials, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, government officials, and more than 21, 000 captives of conscience, a restrictive military government has added to the rigorous destruction of political institutions.
Some reviewers have chosen to criticize the State Administration Council junta, the organization’s most notable sufferer, in the midst of this terrible landscape’s horrors.
Benedict Rogers ‘ recent article,” The world must end its silence on Aung San Suu Kyi” ( Union of Catholic Asian News, January 17, 2025 ) indulges in distorted half-truths. Rogers portrays Suu Kyi as the criminal in a horror engineered by the very defense she has constantly opposed, despite his so-called great purposes.
This is not journalism—it’s the persuasive equivalent of lighting a fire beneath a female enduring her 19th season of imprisonment, including her third parallel year in solitary confinement, and calling it justice.
Mainstream media has taken to calling Myanmar a “forgotten state”, but a video from , The Independent , next December reveals a state not so much forgotten as consciously ignored. Some lament the demise of” the one democratic hope that Burma had,” as well as her repulsive behavior by those who unnecessarily desired a saint before being sullied by realpolitik.
” Some editors I speak to presently say they got it wrong about my family”, explains Aung San Suu Kyi’s child, Kim Aris, featured prominently in the film ,” Terminated”, talking to us before its release.
A clear correlation is found between Western reporting, heightened sectarian violence, and rising nationalism, according to research from organizations like Care International. As Sir John Jenkins, former UK ambassador to Myanmar, explains in the documentary, Suu Kyi’s abandonment by her “international friends” during the Rohingya crisis enabled the military to launch its 2021 coup d ‘état.
Tightrope over an abyss
Labeling Suu Kyi’s 2019 defense of Myanmar at The International Court of Justice ( ICJ) as a “defense of the military” by a “genocide apologist” carries as much weight as a shadow on a sidewalk. She engaged in a delicate legal and diplomatic defense of her nation at a time when allowing international assistance would have only made things worse.
Despite the fact that condemning either Buddhist or Muslim communities would have only sparked the flames, international observers steadfastly failed to define sectarian violence as intercommunal. Suu Kyi addressed the ICJ by saying,” Myanmar will not tolerate human rights violations committed in Rakhine state and will prosecute the military if war crimes have been committed there.”
These statements acknowledged Myanmar’s difficulties rather than denying atrocities. Her arrival at The Hague was more of an act of survival than a declaration of complicity. To reject the military’s oppressive hold on her government, one would say Suu Kyi is a collaborator.
Suu Kyi’s political philosophy emphasized peace through dialogue and non-vilification. In a society that frequently divides, demonizes, and retaliates, this strategy stands out as a unique one.
Suu Kyi’s intentions are discredited by collusion claims, and Myanmar’s 2008 Constitution is viewed as a military instrument. Dismantling the military was never an option. The only realistic course of action is to implement incremental reform because the system she inherited was meant to obstruct civilian control.
It is a fundamental fact that Suu Kyi’s accusations of failing to end the military’s influence ignore. The real question is not Suu Kyi’s failure to end the military, but why her critics are so eager to shift blame for her actions.
Any analysis of Suu Kyi’s leadership during the Rakhine state crisis that ignores the brutal attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army ( ARS A ) is intentionally misleading and incomplete.
These coordinated attacks  , by the Islamic terrorist , group  , were a deliberate provocation that had their desired effect of triggering the military’s “area clearance operation” that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Bangladesh. ARSA’s goal was to destabilize the region and provoke military retaliation.
The establishment of the Kofi Annan Commission on the Rakhine state was a remarkable act of political courage in a nation that is deeply divided by ethnic divisions. Critics often dismiss it as a public relations stunt, ignoring the commission’s real significance. Suu Kyi’s leadership during this time laid the groundwork for reconciliation.
Ignoring ARSA’s purposeful provocation is comparable to analyzing the horrors that occurred on October 7 in Israel without acknowledging the Hamas attacks that caused the rise. Blaming Suu Kyi for the military’s obstructing is just as absurd as blaming a firefighter for an arsonist’s crimes.
People’s mandate
Under her leadership, the National League for Democracy ( NLD ) emerged as a form of peaceful yet defiant opposition to the junta. By the 2020 elections, despite systemic repression, the people of Myanmar overwhelmingly entrusted Suu Kyi with their democratic aspirations. Every vote cast by the NLD was a profound act of defiance, a declaration that Myanmar’s citizens would not bow down to military authoritarianism.
However, critics trivialize this victory and dismiss Suu Kyi’s leadership as a failure. Such criticism disregards the sacrifices of millions who volunteered for their safety and livelihoods to help her campaign for a free Myanmar.
The obsession with Suu Kyi’s alleged failings obscures the crimes committed by the military generals, led by coup-maker Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who have stoked a decades-long reign of terror. These are the men responsible for the 2021 coup, which stifled democracy and caused the nation to fall into chaos.
This ingrained system of terror faced direct challenges under Suu Kyi’s leadership and the NLD’s electoral victories. It is inaccurate to criticize Suu Kyi while downplaying the junta’s crimes. If there is a failure to hold the military accountable, it is not Suu Kyi’s failure—it is the world’s failure to confront the true perpetrators of Myanmar’s tragedy.
It is time to stop using Suu Kyi as a scapegoat for Myanmar’s suffering. Her critics—many of whom once hailed her as a beacon of hope—owe her more than criticism, they owe her an apology.
The military junta has always been the primary architect of Myanmar’s oppression. Suu Kyi embodied the aspirations of millions of people who dared to achieve freedom, despite being far from a perfect leader. The extraordinary resilience of a nation fighting for its dignity is undermined by continuing to demonize her.
Suu Kyi’s imprisonment is more than just a personal tragedy; it is also a betrayal of democracy itself. Her detainment symbolizes the suffocation of a nation’s hopes. The international community must confront the unfairly denigrated smear campaign that has unfairly tarnished her legacy by doing more than just demand her release.
Let history interpret Suu Kyi as what she truly is: a brave leader who adapted to adversity, a flawed yet defiant symbol of her people’s struggle, and a voice for reconciliation in a country shattered by decades of terror. The call is clear:# FreeAungSanSuuKyi , and hold the true villains—the junta—accountable for their crimes.
Alan Clements , is an author, investigative journalist and former Buddhist monk ordained in Myanmar, where he lived for years immersed in the country’s spiritual and political landscapes. He is the author of ,” Burma: The Next Killing Fields” ? , and ,” The Voice of Hope”,  , co-authored with Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as the four-volume ,” Burma’s Voices of , Freedom”  , and ,” Aung San Suu Kyi From Prison and a Letter to a Dictator” . , His decades-long work focuses on Myanmar’s ongoing struggle for democracy, human rights and spiritual resilience.
Fergus Harlow , is a writer, scholar and human rights advocate. He co-authored ,” Burma’s Voices of , Freedom”  , and ,” Aung San Suu Kyi From Prison and a Letter to a Dictator”,  , providing an in-depth exploration of Myanmar’s political crises and the resilience of its people. Harlow’s work centers on the intersections of democracy, spirituality and global human rights.