'Please call us Rohingya', plea to Myanmar democracy icon Suu Kyi

He has pinned high hopes on Suu Kyi following her party's overwhelming victory in the country’s historic election, to improve the plight of 500,000 of his brethren in Myanmar from decades-old persecution.

However, his hopes on the iconic figure swiftly turned into anger and disbelievement as Suu Kyi not only failed to address the injustices suffered by the minority ethnic group but also refused to call them Rohingya.

"All our hopes in the leadership of the democratic statesman has faded away. Indeed, we did not hope for this sort of harsh and negative political stance and undemocratic rhetoric from our Noble Peace Prize Laureate," he said.

Hajee, who heads the Rohingya Thailand Group organisation, said he had felt that as Myanmar's de-facto leader, Suu Kyi, who is also affectionately called 'Amay Suu' or 'Mother Suu' by her citizens, including the persecuted Rohingya, was the perfect person to end the Rohingya's cycle of suffering.

He was wrong.

Despite Suu Kyii's ascension to power in Myanmar, he said he still could not foresee a future for the Rohingya, adding that the ethnic group was highly frustrated and appealed for urgent help from around the world.

"Amay Suu's official visit to Thailand from June 23 to 25 was the first after her appointment as Myanmar's state counsellor and foreign minister, where she held talks with Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha on issues affecting the two countries.

As expected, issues on the plight of the Rohingya were never discussed as both leaders focused on solving issues pertaining to Myanmar’s migrant workers in Thailand.

The Nobel Laureate created a storm recently when she avoided using the term, 'Rohingya' when referring to the ethnic group but instead called them 'Bengalis', saying that using the emotive terms made it difficult in finding resolutions to the problems.

Another Rohingya activist in Thailand, Maung Kyaw Nu from the Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand also had high hopes on Su Kyi to overturn decades of abuses suffered by the minority group but that too, has evaporated since.

He likened the peace laureate's refusal to acknowledge the existence of the Rohingya in Myanmar as akin to "disowning" her own children.

"People in Myanmar, including the Rohingya, call her 'Amay Suu' (Mother Suu) because we look up to her as our own Mother, but what she did to us (to Rohingya) was like 'throwing' out her own children (from a house)."

"She doesn't want us (Rohingya)," he added.

For Nur Muhammad, who fled his home in Arakan State, Myanmar several years ago for neighbouring Thailand to escape the abuses and injustices committed against him and his family, all the gloom will never make him lose hope.

"We will never lose hope," he said, while at the same time holding a photo of him with a group of people protesting in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, calling for the release of Suu Kyii from military-imposed house arrest several years ago.

Nur Muhammad fled Arakan for Thailand under cover of darkness over 20 years ago, in search of a better life in Thailand.

Last year, another round of abuses and persecution in Arakan sparked the migration of thousands of boatloads Rohingya to neighbouring countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, causing regional humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, Thailand-based Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP) has called on the Myanmar Government to revise the Myanmar Citizenship Law 1982.