In Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) appears to be the overwhelming winner of last Sunday’s election. Of note, the country’s largest Muslim party, the United National Congress, did not win any seats nor were there any Muslim candidates elected.
Win Mya Mya, the NLD vice-chairperson for the central Myanmar region of Mandalay, told Voice of America that she was discouraged to run due to her faith as a Muslim woman. “I personally feel quite sad that there won’t be any Muslims in the parliament,” she said. “We were born here. I’m a citizen. I only speak Burmese. My grandmother and grandfather were born in Myanmar.”
“The discrimination is not just the regime, it’s in the mind of some of the Burmese people,” says Muslim resident, Yin Yin Moe. “She (Aung San Suu Kyi) can’t change that overnight.”
