City of London to debate revoking Suu Kyi’s freedom award

London, Oct. 8 (PTI): The City of London’s local authority members will debate stripping Aung San Suu Kyi of the Honorary Freedom, the highest honour the city can bestow, over the Myanmar leader’s response to the Rohingya crisis. She has faced international criticism over her perceived failure to take action against reports of the Myanmar Army’s repression of the Rohingya minority Muslims in the Rakhine State from where nearly 500,000 people have fled their homes to neighbouring Bangladesh. Catherine McGuinness, a lawyer who chairs the City of London Corporation’s policy and resources committee, informed fellow councillors by email that she was “distressed at the situation in Burma (Myanmar) and the atrocities committed by the Burmese military”. Her comments came after one member, Munsur Ali, sent an email, saying that he was tabling a motion that would criticise Suu Kyi’s failure to publicly challenge the conduct of her country’s armed forces over allegations of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in the country, according to the Observer. The Bangladeshi-origin member said he would instruct the committee in charge of overseeing applications for honours to examine whether her honour could be removed. “Like many, this has been of great concern to me for a while, not only as a Londoner who is proud of the freedom and equality we celebrate and keen to share with the world, but more so as a person who is of Bengali heritage,” said Ali, who was joined by another member Thomas Anderson in expressing concern. The Honorary Freedom of the City of London was bestowed upon Suu Kyi in May. The news comes days after Oxford City Council voted unanimously to support a cross-party motion that said it was no longer appropriate to celebrate Suu Kyi of Myanmar with a Freedom of Oxford honour. The council is to hold a special meeting to confirm the honour’s removal on November 27. The decision to remove the award follows the Oxford college where Suu Kyi studied, St Hugh’s, removed her portrait from prominent public display at the entrance.