Political leaders, the world over, need to look over their shoulders lest they make even the slightest mistake by deed or action. It's necessary for their survival because the public image that each one builds up about himself/herself is based on a few truths, covered with myths and a perceived 'clean' image.
It'll become amply clear when I were to illustrate the Myanmarese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi's recent discomfiture while being interviewed by a BBC presenter, who was a Muslim. She lost her composure and made an anti-Muslim remark after she was grilled and posed with uncomfortable questions regarding Myanmar's violence hit Rohingya Muslims.
A digression. Who're the Rohingya Muslims?
About 80% of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar live in its western state of Rakhine which shares its northern border with Bangladesh. Nearly all of them have been denied citizenship by successive
governments, as the government does not recognise Rohingyas as a distinct ethnic group originating from Myanmar but rather as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Myanmar, as everyone is aware, is
a Buddhist state.
The UN considers the Rohingyas as the world's most persecuted group of minorities!
Just goes to show that even Aung San Suu Kyi shares the opinion of the military regime that had incarcerated her all these years, regarding the hapless community!
That's the reason that many leaders make off the cuff remarks, on issues, only to rue later and even claim that their responses were distorted by the media to attain its ends! This is the case the world over and owing to repeated transgressions, the general public - all over the globe - have understood as to how to take it....with dollops of salt!!
Tailpiece.
It's in this scenario that Donald Trump, who's seeking the Republican nomination for the US Presidency, seems to have no such baggage that restricts him from saying - blasphemous for those who toe the 'correct' political line - what's in his mind, which incidentally, is shared by a large majority of his countrymen.
He's able to pull it off because he's a self made man and he doesn't require any of the props that his opponents badly need. Interesting, indeed!
It'll become amply clear when I were to illustrate the Myanmarese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi's recent discomfiture while being interviewed by a BBC presenter, who was a Muslim. She lost her composure and made an anti-Muslim remark after she was grilled and posed with uncomfortable questions regarding Myanmar's violence hit Rohingya Muslims.
A digression. Who're the Rohingya Muslims?
About 80% of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar live in its western state of Rakhine which shares its northern border with Bangladesh. Nearly all of them have been denied citizenship by successive
governments, as the government does not recognise Rohingyas as a distinct ethnic group originating from Myanmar but rather as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Myanmar, as everyone is aware, is
a Buddhist state.
The UN considers the Rohingyas as the world's most persecuted group of minorities!
Just goes to show that even Aung San Suu Kyi shares the opinion of the military regime that had incarcerated her all these years, regarding the hapless community!
That's the reason that many leaders make off the cuff remarks, on issues, only to rue later and even claim that their responses were distorted by the media to attain its ends! This is the case the world over and owing to repeated transgressions, the general public - all over the globe - have understood as to how to take it....with dollops of salt!!
Tailpiece.
It's in this scenario that Donald Trump, who's seeking the Republican nomination for the US Presidency, seems to have no such baggage that restricts him from saying - blasphemous for those who toe the 'correct' political line - what's in his mind, which incidentally, is shared by a large majority of his countrymen.
He's able to pull it off because he's a self made man and he doesn't require any of the props that his opponents badly need. Interesting, indeed!
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