Why won’t Mitch McConnell help Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi? | Opinion

It might surprise those, who see Sen. McConnell as the arch partisan, that one of his first actions as a U.S. Senator was to spend a week reading up on Apartheid in South Africa, a system of racial separation that the then-freshman senator described as “abhorrent.” He then joined forces with liberal Democrats such as Ted Kennedy, and against Republican President Ronald Regan, to impose sanctions on the Apartheid regime.

It was through this experience with international human rights that the now-Senate Minority Leader came to understand the case of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma. There too, the will of the majority was being held down by a small group who ruled with an iron fist. Accordingly, Sen. McConnell led on early sanctions legislation to penalize the junta for its brutal takeover of the country.

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Soon it would become personal as he exchanged letters with Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy icon, for years as she remained under house arrest. In Burma, his efforts were noted, and Louisville, Kentucky was one of the first stops for Aung San Suu Kyi when she visited the U.S. At the University of Louisville, she said that “next to Sen. McConnell is always the nicest place to be.” Sen. McConnell even defended Aung San Suu Kyi when many in the international community gave up on her after her misguided defense of the military’s genocidal terror against the Rohingya Muslims.

On February 1 of this year, the Burmese dreams of democracy came to a grinding halt when the military arrested the county’s elected leadership, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The people fought back by going on strike and staging massive street protests. The military responded with a bloody crackdown, which still continues today, and has already left well over one thousand people dead and many more unlawfully arrested and tortured.

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The National Unity Government that carries the torch of Burma’s democracy movement has found inspiration in the BURMA Act of 2021 which addresses the humanitarian aid concerns of the country, as well as imposes certain targeted sanctions on the regime that echoes the NUG’s calls. The Bill enjoys healthy bipartisan support in the House, where it recently passed out of the Foreign Affairs Committee with the unanimous consent of both Republicans and Democrats. However, the Bill may well die in the Senate, where it is cosponsored by 17 Democrats but not a single Republican.

The Kentucky Burmese community, now around ten thousand people strong, has been particularly disappointed that Sen. McConnell has yet to throw his support behind what is the most consequential piece of Burma legislation to have been written since he introduced the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act in 2003. We hope that Sen. McConnell hears his brothers and sisters crying out for freedom in Burma and ensures that the law passes through the Senate as smoothly as possible. As a resident of Kentucky, the home state of Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell, the Burmese community is counting on him to cosponsor the BURMA Act and make us proud to be Kentuckians.

Zaw R. was born in Thaton Township, Mon State, Burma. His family settled in the USA in 2000 and moved to Louisville, KY in 2013. He is currently an advisor for the Louisville Karen Community and recently joined the U.S. Advocacy Coalition for Myanmar and Campaign for a New Myanmar’s lobbying efforts.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Why won’t Mitch McConnell help Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi? | Opinion