Aung San Suu Kyi to be stripped of honourary presidency by UK university

Burma's de facto leader accused of 'inaction in the face of genocide'

Aung San Suu Kyi speaks during an official dinner function at the Istana in Singapore (Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty)

The Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to be stripped of her honorary presidency at a UK university's student union over her country's treatment of Rohingya minority Muslims.

Once seen as a symbol of freedom and non-violent resistance, Burma’s de facto president Ms Suu Kyi was recognised by students at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1991.

But amid accusations of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Burmese army in the north-western Rakhine state, the LSE student union is now expected to pass a vote removing her from the role.

More than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border to Bangladesh amid increasing violence. Although the country's military leaders retain control of internal security, Ms Suu Kyi was accused of “inaction in the face of genocide”.

A motion has now been tabled by the LSE student union and senior members of the leadership, including general secretary Mahatir Pasha, are confident it will pass.

“I have asked all LSE students to support a motion I will be taking to UGM on 9 November, asking to strip Aung San Suu Kyi’s honorary presidency away from our union. This will act as a strong symbol of our opposition to her current position and inaction in the face of genocide,” Mr Pasha told The Independent.

Students at LSE "have often been at the forefront of fighting for social justice", Mr Pasha said. “Suu Kyi’s silence in the face of this genocide has come at too much a cost – her complicity in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. It is time for the world to take action in support of the Rohingya people and against Aung San Suu Kyi,” he added.

Quratulain Ahsan, president of LSE's Human Rights Society, said it was important to show solidarity with those who have been forced to leave their homes in Burma.

“The crisis of the Rohingya today mirrors several historical incidents of ethnic cleansing, but the idea that such violations of the basic human rights of a particular ethnicity can take place in a progressive 21st century, is both appalling and shaking,” Mr Ahsan told The Independent.

And Kamilia Rozlan, treasurer of the union's Student Action for Refugees group, said the student body would not stay silent in the face of "blatant persecution".

"The Rohingya people deserve a voice, and if Suu Kyi won’t lend hers, we will," Ms Rozlan said.

All students of the LSE have been invited to attend the debate and subsequent vote at the university next Thursday.

If the motion passes, LSE will join the cities of Oxford and Glasgow, both of whom have also stripped Ms Suu Kyi of honorary awards in recent weeks.