Suu Kyi takes election bid to strife-torn Rakhine

A few 140,000 Rohingyas were displaced during the 2012 unrest and now live in squalid camps in Rakhine state, while thousands of others have fled persecution in the Buddhist-dominated country on rickety boats in recent years.

While Suu Kyi has faced worldwide disappointment at her reluctance to speak out in support of the minority Rohingya, she is viewed with suspicion among Rakhine hardliners who see her as supportive of Muslims.

At the same time, there have been reports of hardline Buddhist nationalist monks and local leaders of the powerful Arakan National Party calling on supporters to prevent Suu Kyi from campaigning in the state.

“I am a little bit anxious about her. But I think people will keep the situation calm”, said 37-year-old supporter Nay Lin Oo, adding he was voting for the NLD because he wanted a “clean government”.

Myanmar’s general election will go ahead as planned on November 8 despite a proposed delay because of recent landslides and flooding, the election commission said Tuesday.

The government describes Rohingyas as stateless and foreign migrants even though they have lived in Myanmar for generations.

“For the ease of election campaigning and for voters to be able to vote conveniently, we have discussed with committee members whether to delay the election date or not”, the election commission said in a statement.

NLD spokesperson Nyan Win told AFP the party was preparing to provide legal assistance to the activist whose family say is now detained at a prison in the Irrawaddy delta, awaiting trial on October 27.

In her first trip ever to Rakhine, Suu Kyi will campaign for three days in Taungup, Thandwe and Gwa towns in southern part of the state, where the NLD support is the strongest.

But despite the question of safety for Aung San Suu Kyi-who will not visit the state capital Sittwe or other areas that were hit hardest by communal violence-many prominent members of the ethnic Rakhine community welcomed her to their state Friday.

Suu Kyi was separated from the cheering crowds by dozens of guards at a football ground in the remote rural town of Taunggote, where she called for economic development in the impoverished state.

However, she is bracing herself for a mixed reception in western Rakhine.

A woman from Maubin township was arrested on Monday night over a Facebook post that compared the colour of Aung San Suu Kyi’s traditional skirt, htamein, to that of the recently introduced military uniforms. “The authorities have said they are concerned there will be problems, but I believe it is because they don’t want her to come here”.

“Security will be very tight”. Translated by Khet March Written in English by Joshua Lipes.