In an article for Old Darkness In Myanmar, diplomat Maung
Thaung Win has claimed that the Myanmar military were forced to rape Rohingya
women because of their ‘skimpy outfits, short skirts and not being accompanied
by their menfolk’.
Recent rape cases in central Burma, and statistics showing
an increase incidents of rape, have sparked much controversy in Myanmar.
“Everyone knows if you want to rape, you join the military
and rape ethnic women, you don’t rape Bamma women,” said a spokeswoman the
Safety of Myanmar Women Association.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s spokesperson, Major Zaw Htay, has denied that
there is a culture tolerant of rape within the government, and that this could
be part of the problem. “It is ridiculous to suggest that the government’s
failure to update laws to ban rape in marriage, failure to pass laws on tougher
sentencing for rapists, having a rapist as a religious affairs union minister,
doing nothing to try to address military impunity for rape, and describing
reputable reports of rape of Rohingya women as fake, could have in any way
contributed to a culture or perception that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government
is tolerant of rapists.”
