As the first anniversary of the murderous violence that Myanmar's military unleashed against the Rohingya approaches, the halo that once was fixed firmly above the head of the country's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has not just slipped. It has utterly disappeared, replaced instead by the badge of shame that is worn by any head of a government that stands accused of genocide.
More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh (that is on top of the thousands that ran from previous waves of repression). Villages have been razed, countless women raped and atrocities perpetrated too barbarous to be considered anything like a proportionate response to the alleged attacks by Rohingya militants that supposedly sparked the crackdown in the first place. That violent retaliation was later found by the Thai group Fortify Rights to have been extensively and systematically planned in advance.
The plight of the survivors, as The National reports from Cox's Bazar, is pitiable. The Myanmar authorities say that those with proof of residence, or "duly verified" people, as they put it, are welcome to return.
That is problematic in itself as many lack the necessary paperwork while the documentation of many of the dispossessed has been destroyed. So far very few have done so, which is hardly surprising. After all, to what would they be returning – to the embers of the homes in which families were burned alive? And why would they wish to go back to a regime which had visited upon them what outgoing UN human rights chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein called "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing"?
Ms Suu Kyi has been mealymouthed and disingenuous at best, complaining of a campaign of "misinformation" and earning a rebuke for attempting to "sugar-coat" the state's crimes from Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
His chiding is all the more stern because “the lady”, as she is known, was once the poster girl for such organisations. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her long and lonely campaign against the military dictatorship, which ran what was then called Burma for nearly a half century from 1962.
So lustrous was her reputation that when Britain's New Statesman magazine asked readers to nominate "heroes of our time" in 2006, she easily topped the poll; remarkably, she received three times as many votes as the next person on the list – one Nelson Mandela.
Her present infamy – there is no doubt she wouldn’t even make the list now – represents a tragic fall. Now it may be that too much has always been expected of her.
When she became the face of the democracy movement that sprang up just over 30 years ago in 1988, she was an accidental leader. Long resident in Britain and married to an Oxford academic, Ms Suu Kyi was only in the country because her aged mother, the widow of Myanmar's liberation hero, general Aung San, was dying. Nothing, apart from the sense of destiny that many have observed in her, had prepared her to head a democratic revolution.
Some would say that it showed, and badly. In 1990, for instance, the junta had allowed elections. According to one of her biographers, veteran Myanmar reporter Bertil Lintner, after Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy clearly won the vote, the party should have announced its victory to the throng of international media who were in the capital, Yangon, brought a million people onto the street and liberated her from house arrest.
Amid worldwide television coverage, Mr Lintner said: "Given the fact that even the rank and file had voted for the NLD, it is unlikely that the soldiers in the streets would have tried to stop the masses of people.” The generals “could have been given amnesty and, if they so wanted, been permitted to leave the country. It would have all have been over in a day".
But Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD missed their chance and the authorities simply annulled the election. The country was not to have another properly democratic vote until 2015 – and even then, 25 per cent of the seats in both houses of parliament were reserved for military appointees.
Ms Suu Kyi has been accused of being autocratic, of being incapable of delegating and of a total failure to encourage and groom a successive generation. Speaking perhaps to that slightly troubling sense of destiny, a friend once warned her: “You not only have the courage of your convictions – you have the courage of your connections.”
Today that has morphed into what many view as a cult of personality in Myanmar. "Her pre-eminent role in the official media is as pronounced as in any authoritarian state," wrote the American academic and Asia specialist David Steinberg recently in The Diplomat. The myth of Ms Suu Kyi is "continuously projected within Myanmar while it expires internationally".
If it were just a matter of Ms Suu Kyi falling short as a politician or as a party leader, that would be one thing. To be an incompetent minister might be unfortunate for the relevant country but it is not a sin.
No – it is Ms Suu Kyi’s moral failures that make what has happened under her leadership so devastating for her erstwhile admirers and so catastrophic for her country.
It might be said that she is in an impossible situation. The ministries that are in charge of dealing with Rakhine State are in the hands of the generals who have the right “to take over and exercise state sovereign power” in the event of a national emergency.
If she tries to push back too far, they might just do that. But there is little evidence that Ms Suu Kyi genuinely shares the revulsion at what has happened to a people denied citizenship and whom she can barely bring herself to name, because that would be "emotive". (Her colleagues prefer to call them "Bengalis".) She herself has blamed the violence on "terrorists".
There is equally little evidence that she thinks any crime has been committed at all. Add to this her chilly attitude to the media and the rights of minorities – not just Muslims but also the Christian Kachin who say they are worse off under her – and by this point one has to wonder what real change the NLD government led by her has brought to Myanmar.
And that, three decades after she first became one of the world’s most famous advocates of freedom and democracy, is the most ruinous verdict of all.
Sholto Byrnes is a senior fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EGold%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMagomedomar%20Magomedomarov%20%E2%80%93%20Judo%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20%2B100kg%0D%3Cbr%3EKhaled%20Al%20Shehi%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-62kg%0D%3Cbr%3EFaisal%20Al%20Ketbi%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-85kg%0D%3Cbr%3EAsma%20Al%20Hosani%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Women%E2%80%99s%20-52kg%0D%3Cbr%3EShamma%20Al%20Kalbani%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Women%E2%80%99s%20-63kg%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESilver%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EOmar%20Al%20Marzooqi%20%E2%80%93%20Equestrian%20%E2%80%93%20Individual%20showjumping%0D%3Cbr%3EBishrelt%20Khorloodoi%20%E2%80%93%20Judo%20%E2%80%93%20Women%E2%80%99s%20-52kg%0D%3Cbr%3EKhalid%20Al%20Blooshi%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-62kg%0D%3Cbr%3EMohamed%20Al%20Suwaidi%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-69kg%0D%3Cbr%3EBalqees%20Abdulla%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Women%E2%80%99s%20-48kg%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBronze%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EHawraa%20Alajmi%20%E2%80%93%20Karate%20%E2%80%93%20Women%E2%80%99s%20kumite%20-50kg%0D%3Cbr%3EAhmed%20Al%20Mansoori%20%E2%80%93%20Cycling%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20omnium%0D%3Cbr%3EAbdullah%20Al%20Marri%20%E2%80%93%20Equestrian%20%E2%80%93%20Individual%20showjumping%0D%3Cbr%3ETeam%20UAE%20%E2%80%93%20Equestrian%20%E2%80%93%20Team%20showjumping%0D%3Cbr%3EDzhafar%20Kostoev%20%E2%80%93%20Judo%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-100kg%0D%3Cbr%3ENarmandakh%20Bayanmunkh%20%E2%80%93%20Judo%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-66kg%0D%3Cbr%3EGrigorian%20Aram%20%E2%80%93%20Judo%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-90kg%0D%3Cbr%3EMahdi%20Al%20Awlaqi%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-77kg%0D%3Cbr%3ESaeed%20Al%20Kubaisi%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Men%E2%80%99s%20-85kg%0D%3Cbr%3EShamsa%20Al%20Ameri%20%E2%80%93%20Jiu-jitsu%20%E2%80%93%20Women%E2%80%99s%20-57kg%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Stuck in a job without a pay rise? Here's what to do
Chris Greaves, the managing director of Hays Gulf Region, says those without a pay rise for an extended period must start asking questions – both of themselves and their employer.
“First, are they happy with that or do they want more?” he says. “Job-seeking is a time-consuming, frustrating and long-winded affair so are they prepared to put themselves through that rigmarole? Before they consider that, they must ask their employer what is happening.”
Most employees bring up pay rise queries at their annual performance appraisal and find out what the company has in store for them from a career perspective.
Those with no formal appraisal system, Mr Greaves says, should ask HR or their line manager for an assessment.
“You want to find out how they value your contribution and where your job could go,” he says. “You’ve got to be brave enough to ask some questions and if you don’t like the answers then you have to develop a strategy or change jobs if you are prepared to go through the job-seeking process.”
For those that do reach the salary negotiation with their current employer, Mr Greaves says there is no point in asking for less than 5 per cent.
“However, this can only really have any chance of success if you can identify where you add value to the business (preferably you can put a monetary value on it), or you can point to a sustained contribution above the call of duty or to other achievements you think your employer will value.”
THE BIO
Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain
Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude
Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE
Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally
Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
The specs: 2018 Genesis G70
Price, base / as tested: Dh155,000 / Dh205,000
Engine: 3.3-litre, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 370hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 510Nm @ 1,300rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.6L / 100km
