Duterte advises Suu Kyi: Ignore human rights critics

President Rodrigo Duterte welcomes Myanmar’s State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi during the opening ceremony of the 31st ASEAN Summit held at Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/EDWIN BACASMAS

NEW DELHI—President Duterte said on Friday he advised Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to ignore criticisms from human rights groups over her government’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims.

“Do not mind human rights. They’re just a noisy bunch actually,” Mr. Duterte recalled telling Suu Kyi in a recent meeting.

The President, however, did not say whether their conversation took place in the India-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Commemorative Summit here, which concluded on Friday, or in their previous meeting in Manila, which hosted last year’s Asean meetings.

Caught in middle

“You know, Aung San Suu Kyi was with us. I pity her because she seems to be caught in the middle being a Nobel Prize winner for peace, and this is the ruckus now, she is (being) heavily criticized,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech before Indian business leaders and investors.

Suu Kyi has been criticized for her silence and alleged complicity in the atrocities committed by Myanmar’s military against ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state.

The meeting with business leaders was Mr. Duterte’s last stop in his three-day trip to India. He flew back to the Philippines at 2:12 p.m. India time.

In his speech, the President talked about, among other things, his war on drugs, his disdain for human rights groups, American imperialism and how Indian investments were welcome in his country.

Islands’ fragmentation

“Imperialism never stopped,” he said. “It started in my country 500 years ago. And the Spaniards stayed in my country for 400 years. That’s why what you see now, the fragmentation of the islands … is just the same in the Middle East,” he said.

“And until now, America … [keeps] acting like the conscience of the people and trying to police everybody. That’s a problem. You impose your values, you are very strong and at that United Nations has no purpose at all actually for mankind,” he said.

“Now, we have a guy there also playing with his atomic toys,” he said, apparently referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

But Mr. Duterte did not get to finish his train of thought as he was interrupted by a protocol officer who reminded him he was supposed to catch his return flight.