Rody tells Suu Kyi: Ignore HR critics

NEW DELHI – The man under constant fire over human rights issues has a piece of advice to Myanmar’s Nobel Peace laureate and democracy icon: just ignore the critics.

President Duterte gave the advice to Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who has received flak over the violence directed toward Rohingya Muslims.

“Do not mind the human rights (critics). They’re just a noisy bunch actually,” Duterte said during a meeting with Indian investors yesterday as he narrated his encounter with the Myanmar leader.

“You know, Aung San Suu Kyi was with us,” he said. “I pity her because she seems to be caught in the middle of being a Nobel Prize winner for peace and this is the ruckus now. She is heavily criticized.” 

It was not clear whether Duterte made the remark during the just concluded Association of Southeast Asian Nations - India Commemorative Summit here.

Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for 15 years for opposing military rule in Myanmar, a stance that earned her a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. But her legacy has been tainted by allegations that she is indifferent to the plight of the Rohingya who are experiencing violence and human rights abuses in Rakhine.

More than 655,000 members of the minority group have fled to Bangladesh to escape a crackdown by Myanmar’s armed forces.

The United Nations has condemned what it called an “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya but Suu Kyi said the term was “too strong” to describe the events happening in her country. 

Duterte is also facing intense criticism over his brutal war on illegal drugs, which has so far left about 3,000 suspected drug offenders dead. 

Human rights advocates said the drug war, which helped Duterte achieve an overwhelming victory in 2016, encouraged extrajudicial killings. 

‘UN is useless’

 Duterte spewed a fresh tirade against the United Nations, the European Union and human rights groups critical of his drug crackdown. 

He said the UN was inutile for failing to stop killings and massacres. 

“The UN has no purpose at all, actually, for mankind,” Duterte said. 

“As far as I’m concerned, with all its inutility, it has not prevented any war, it has not prevented any massacre. And here I am trying to protect my country, (the UN is) saying that I have killed 10,000,” he said. 

Duterte also ranted about the United States’ supposed efforts to impose their views on other countries and the imperialists’ exploitation of the resources of territories they conquered. 

“Until now, America once took – acting like the conscience of the people and – trying to police everybody. That’s the problem. You impose your values, you are very strong and at that United Nations has no purpose at all actually for mankind,” Duterte said. 

“Too much emphasis or importance for the libertarians about human rights here and there. If you put human rights ahead in premium and values, then one day just like the four million Filipinos and the Philippines, you would lose dignity – you erode, derogate the dignity of your fellowmen,” he added. 

“We are not the strong men. Nobody is strong in a democratic country. We do it by the rules.”