Myanmar's de facto leader and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has signaled determination to address the criticisms of her government's handling of the refugee crisis engulfing the country's western Rakhine State while stepping up economic reform.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Japan-based Nikkei Asian Review, she said she would "find out more" about forces that triggered the exodus of more than 410,000 mainly stateless Muslim Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh, and reiterated her readiness to start the verification process for the return of some refugees at "any time."
Despite her offer to facilitate visits by Myanmar's diplomatic community to affected areas of northern Rakhine, she again ruled out allowing into the country the fact finding mission proposed earlier this year by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Suu Kyi, who is also foreign minister, also addressed investor concerns that the Rakhine crisis could affect Myanmar's economic outlook, saying her government was stepping up economic reform - particularly in agriculture and infrastructure development. Such reforms, she said, were essential to alleviate the kind of poverty that can breed radicalization.
A day after her televised speech to domestic and international audiences about the situation in western Rakhine - and ahead of an address by one of Myanmar's two vice presidents to the United Nations General Assembly in New York - she also tackled international criticism over a brutal military campaign that has razed more than 200 villages in Rakhine and driven entire Rohingya communities into Bangladesh.
The exodus was triggered by the military's ferocious response to attacks by a Rohingya militant group on more than 30 police and military facilities on Aug. 25.
About 12 security personnel and nearly 80 insurgents from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army were killed in the attacks, although at least 300 more ARSA suspects were killed in the military's ensuing "clearance operations."
Since then, former supporters - including government leaders, international organizations and the United Nations - have accused Suu Kyi of presiding over ethnic cleansing policies, while critics have claimed she is indifferent or unwilling to halt the military's campaign.
"Actually, nothing is surprising, because opinions change and world opinions change like any other opinion," she said. "Countries that have been through a transition themselves are much more understanding than those which have never gone through such a process," she added, referring to the range of reactions from Asian and Western countries.
"Domestically, yes, we do have an opposition force, which is how it should be in any democratic country ... it means we are open to criticism and debate."
Asked about her claim in her Sept. 19 speech that military operations had ceased in northern Rakhine from Sept 5, despite mass movement of refugees in the weeks since, she said her government needed to find out more about the circumstances behind the continuing outflow of refugees and the burning of villages.
Her remarks reinforced reports that mob violence by local Rakhine communities and paramilitary groups had continued to drive Rohingya communities out. They also hinted at a new search for evidence about the perpetrators of the attacks.