One sentence was enough to trigger 120 Indonesians to demand a Nobel prize confiscated.
“Many people were caught by surprise that those words came from Suu Kyi, a democracy hero in Myanmar and a 2012 Nobel Prize laureate. It might only be one racially-insensitive sentence, but that was one sentence too many, and the meaning is too much for those who love peace.”
These are some of the words in the petition 120 Indonesian nationals will file to the Norwegian Nobel Committee 2016 for a sentence made by Myanmar democracy fighter, Aung San Suu Kyi. On Monday 28 March 2016 Indonesian nationals started an e-petition to demand for the confiscation of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi. The Indonesians behind the e-petition complained about an allegedly Muslim-remark in her interview with the BBC.
More than 26 thousand signatures have been collected into the petition, which was created online on the webpage www.change.org. It was submitted under the name of Emerson Yuntho, the petition coordinator and Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) activist. The e-petition will be filed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee 2016, the Chair of the Nobel Committee Kaci Kullman Five, and Deputy Chair of the Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-Anderseen.
Besides Emerson Yuntho, the 120 Indonesians included prolific writer Goenawan Mohamad and economist Didik J Racbini.
They said in their petition, “We hereby demand the Chair of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee confiscate or take back the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi. Only those who are serious in keeping the world peace may be awarded such a coveted Prize.”
What had triggered the creation of the petition was a sentence uttered by Suu Kyi after her interview with BBC Today anchor Mishal Husain in 2013.
The quote?
“No one told me that I was to be interviewed by a Muslim.”
The statement was supposedly made by Suu Kyi after her interview with the BBC’s Mishal Husain, herself a Muslim, in 2013. Suu Kyi allegedly said it off air after Husain asked her to condemn anti-Muslims in Myanmar and the persecution of the country’s Rohingya Muslims.
It’s certainly an uncharacteristic thing for Suu Kyi to say, and it’s all the more jarring given her status as a Nobel laureate.
The Myanmar leader reportedly grumbled, “No one told me that I was to be interviewed by a Muslim.” Mishal Husain is Muslim and a Pakistani descent.
In their appeal to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the Indonesians mentioned that some questions from Mishal Husain might have irritated Suu Kyi.
“Suu Kyi was also asked to condemn the anti-Muslims and those who acted violently against Muslims that led to the Rohingyas to leave Myanmar,” they said, quoting that remark from a recently published book, The Lady and The Generals – Aung San Suu Kyii and Burma’s Struggle for Freedom, 2016, which the latest book authored by Peter Popham, a journalist for The Independent.
Until the publication of Peter Popham’s book, no one had previously disclosed Suu Kyi’s offending complaint about her interview with the BBC in 2013, even Mishal Husain herself. Peter Popham said last week he had got Suu Kyi’s grumbling remark from a certain source which he declined to identify.
Aung San Suu Kyi is a figure well-admired in Indonesia, as she is throughout the rest of the world. Or at least she was until a single controversial quote recently attributed to the National League for Democracy leader has led numerous Indonesians to express outrage at the Nobel Peace Prize winner online.
Sources: www.globalindonesianvoices.com www.yangon.coconuts.c
