World acclaimed pro-democracy fighter, Aung San Suu Kyi, spent her first day of freedom testing Myanmar’s political minefield with a vow to press ahead in her decades-long fight for democracy and also calling for compromise with other political parties and ruling military government.
Suu Kyi, who was freed from house arrest Saturday after spending close to two decades in jail, told journalists she faces a precarious position: manoeuvring between the expectations of the country’s pro-democracy movement and the realities of dealing with a clique of generals who have kept her locked up for years. “I’ve always believed in compromise,” the Nobel Peace laureate told reporters in the dilapidated offices of her party, the National League for Democracy. “I am for national reconciliation. I am for dialogue. Whatever authority I have, I will use it to that end ... I hope the people will support me.”
Myanmar, once known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962, leaving it isolated from much of the international community and battered by poverty. The junta has an abysmal human rights record, holding thousands of political prisoners and waging brutal military campaigns against ethnic minorities. The military annulled the last general election held in the country, after the politicians it supported lost to Ms Suu Kyi’s NLD, and the country has been placed under various sanctions by, mostly, western nations. In recent years, though, it has also become an increasingly important regional trading hub, and its natural gas reserves and hydroelectric possibilities have brought it close to energy-hungry China and India.
National reconciliation
Yesterday, Ms Suu Kyi spoke to a rapturous crowd of as many as 10,000 people who jammed the street in front of the office. While the speech was technically illegal - any gathering of more than a handful of people needs government permission in Myanmar - the authorities made no arrests. Dozens of secret police officers were on hand Sunday to record her comments and photograph those in attendance. “I believe in human rights and I believe in the rule of law,” she said. “I will always fight for these things. I want to work with all democratic forces and I need the support of the people.” However, she also urged her followers to work for national reconciliation. “If we want to get what we want, we have to do it in the right way; otherwise we will not achieve our goal however noble or correct it may be,” she said.
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