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Hate Speech Ignited: Understanding Hate Speech in Myanmar
Figure 7.
In response to a news video reporting the possibility of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Nobel
Peace Prize being revoked, a user commented: “We don’t care if all the awards are revoked.
She is doing good things for the nation and has the full support of the country.”169
Figure 8.
Posters around Yangon (December 2019) urging people in Burmese to “Let Us Stand with
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi” ahead of her ICJ appearance.
One additional explanation offered for the Buddhist Bamar population’s continued support of
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been that people often feel “there is no other option or alternative to fill
the leadership vacuum in Myanmar’s democratization apart from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”170 However, the lack of alternatives functions as a restraint on voices critical of her government, exacerbating
what the former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has warned is
a “decreasing space for the expression of views that are critical of or discordant with government
narratives.”171
169
170
171
Eleven Broadcasting’s Facebook Page (accessed October 2, 2019): https://www.facebook.com/
watch/?v=2084536468462864.
Heijmans.
Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, A/HRC/40/68