On Monday, a strange tweet, remembering the awarding of an honorary degree to the widely criticised Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was posted from Trinity’s Twitter account. Predictably, the ensuing confusion and criticism forced Trinity to swiftly delete the tweet.
The tweet, which lauded her as “one of the most renowned women democrats in the world”, was part of the College’s #OnThisDay series on social media. Yet it only served to highlight something that students and staff may have otherwise wanted to forget.
After a long battle for democracy in Myanmar, which saw her live under house arrest for years, Aung San Suu Kyi was hailed as a hero and a champion of peace. Many institutions around the world honoured her, culminating in her receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
But Aung San Suu Kyi has had a dramatic fall from grace due to her well-documented inaction around the genocide of the Rohingya people in her country. The Rohingya people continue to suffer rape, murder and destruction, while the head of government has blocked aid and repeatedly denies the existence of any sort of ethnic cleansing.
Though political leaders may see no option but to continue to work with her, institutions in the business of giving out such honours have a responsibility to society to ensure that those they honour truly deserve it. Many of Aung San Suu Kyi’s other numerous honours have been rescinded, or are being reconsidered. Trinity, however, has made no moves to reconsider the honorary degree given to her in 2012. It should do so.
That in the same week as this tweet-deleting incident the College honoured Hillary Clinton with the same honour seems jarring.
The action of deleting the tweet very clearly indicated Trinity’s awareness of the implications of having bestowed on a figure who has been accused of legitimising genocide the same honour as the likes of Mary Robinson, Bob Geldof, Peter McVerry and Holocaust survivor Tomas Reichental.
Surely Trinity must realise that if it’s reputationally damaging to have a tweet commemorating her honour, it is reputationally damaging enough for the College to preserve her award.
