Surakiart's key role
Former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai says one of the objectives of the government-appointed advisory board he heads in Myanmar is to narrow the "big gap of international interpretation and domestic interpretation of what happened in Rakhine state".
It is a challenging objective because the Myanmar government and the Tatmadaw are obviously in denial about the violence in Rakhine. That's why they banned independent media, UN agencies and humanitarian organisations from northern Rakhine after the latest violence began in August.
The access ban creates a delicate issue for the board led by Mr Surakiart. Its role is to provide advice to another panel formed by the Myanmar government to implement recommendations on Rakhine state made in August by a commission headed by former UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan.
Noting that "full transparency is the most effective way to dispel false and inaccurate representations of the situation on the ground", the Annan commission recommended "full and regular" access for media to all areas of Rakhine.
It is this recommendation that raises questions over State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi's reportedly "furious" response when Bill Richardson raised the issue of the two Reuters reporters on trial in Yangon before his dramatic resignation from the board.
Mr Richardson cites her as saying that the decision to charge the reporters under the 1923 Official Secrets Act, after they were arrested in unusual circumstances with documents about the security operation in Rakhine "was not the work of the advisory board".
How can that be if the Annan commission specifically recommended media access to Rakhine? As the commission noted in its final report, policies based on media restriction that inhibit the flow of information are counterproductive.
It added: "More than anything, they undermine trust in the Government, and give the impression that Myanmar has something to hide."
Mr Surakiart said he believed the credibility of the advisory board was intact despite Mr Richardson's departure. Many will be watching to see if the board's final report to the Myanmar government uses "Rohingya", or if it acquiesces to policy and calls the victims of violence "Bengalis", because Nay Pyi Taw wants the world to believe they are all illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.