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Democracy leader Suu Kyi urges 'real genuine talks' in Burma
By Steve Finch and John Pomfret
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 15, 2010; 9:43 PM
RANGOON, BURMA - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday that she would seek dialogue with the military leaders who imprisoned her for 15 of the past 20 years, suggesting in one of her first interviews since her release that her strategy for bringing change to Burma will be one of compromise.
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Suu Kyi has taken a hard line in previous aborted efforts to bring democracy to this Southeast Asian nation, but her comments indicate a new willingness to engage with a ruling clique that she has spent much of her professional life fighting against.
In particular, Suu Kyi said she would consider recognizing a parliament that was elected this month in a vote widely derided as a fraud and might support a softening of international sanctions intended to weaken the government.
"We have got to be able to talk to each other," Suu Kyi told The Washington Post in a spare office at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy. "I think, firstly, we have to start talking affably - real genuine talks, not just have some more tea or this or that."
Although Suu Kyi was released by the government, and security forces were not a heavy presence when she gave a political speech to thousands of supporters Sunday, the junta, which has clung to power for 48 years, retains the ability to exert tight control over her. In the past, whenever the military has felt threatened by Suu Kyi's burgeoning grass-roots support, it has responded by returning her to detention.
Suu Kyi's release presents a quandary for the Obama administration, which has attempted unsuccessfully to improve ties with the junta over the past two years. Human rights advocates called Monday on the administration to move forcefully to head off the possibility that Burma's leaders might rearrest Suu Kyi, as they did in 2003 after her last release. Others cautioned that the U.S. influence on the junta is limited and called for the United States to appeal to Burma's backers in China, India, Southeast Asia and Japan to restrain the government.
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"We're at a really dangerous moment for the country and Aung San Suu Kyi in particular," said Tom Malinowski, head of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch. Suu Kyi is attracting big crowds, and Malinowski said he is worried that as she carries out her vow to reengage politically, she will be on a collision course with the government of Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
"At that point, all bets will be off," he said. "There could be violence, and she could be re-imprisoned. So a wait-and-see policy in Washington becomes misguided."
The United States has spoken out against the anti-democratic tactics of the government and has endorsed efforts by Suu Kyi and others to expand rights in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
"We are prepared to have a different kind of relationship with Burma, but there are things that Burma will have to do," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday. "It'll take more than one action to change our policy."
Sitting alone in her office, Suu Kyi wore a turquoise longyi, a Burmese sarong, and a pale side-buttoned blouse with embroidered flowers. In the British accent she picked up during her undergraduate days at Oxford University, the 65-year-old spoke frankly about her release and her plans.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner said she was not surprised by the extent to which the junta had rigged Burma's Nov. 7 election - the first since 1990, when the junta failed to recognize Suu Kyi's victory - to give itself 80 percent of seats. "It's no use saying that you can choose freely between a rock and a hard place," she said. "We want meaningful choice."
Suu Kyi, who was deeply isolated during her 71/2 years under house arrest, said she had not spoken with the junta or other political parties since her release Saturday. But she called for talks with all parties and groups within Burma's political landscape, which has been badly fractured by decades of civil war and an almost complete lack of discussion between her party and the junta.
She and Than Shwe have talked with each other only when she has been in detention.
As to how Burmese might find justice for human rights violations by the junta, Suu Kyi said she favored a truth-and-reconciliation process in which perpetrators would be asked to come forward in a manner similar to that in post-apartheid South Africa. "That is different from meting out grave punishment in a vengeful manner for what has been done," she said.
Suu Kyi stepped away from her strong support for economic sanctions against the government that were imposed by the United States and the European Union. "Obviously, there has to be a time when we must rethink the situation," she said of the measures, which have been a major point of contention between her and Than Shwe's junta.
Malinowski called on the administration to tighten sanctions against Burmese officials and companies, which the Obama administration has said it is considering. He added that he wants to see the U.S. government step up support for a commission of inquiry at the United Nations to look into war crimes allegations.
The U.S. support for such a commission has been lackluster, Malinowski and other analysts said, with the White House seemingly more interested in the issue than the State Department. Over the weekend, statements from the White House and President Obama stressed the need for "accountability" for Burma's oppressors, but State Department remarks did not mention the word.
Ernie Bower, a security expert on Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that Suu Kyi's release had the potential to create a firestorm but that the United States has few policy options beyond trying to marshal neighboring countries to pressure the junta.
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"We really need to step up our engagement with China, India, Japan and [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and say: 'Look, here's what could be a step forward. It's time for you guys to support restraint and convince the government to give this some room," he said.
After recent comments that she might set up a Twitter account, Suu Kyi said she was deciding whether to opt for a Facebook page instead, given that younger Burmese tended to choose the latter. Twitter is banned in Burma but can be accessed easily through proxy servers, as with many other barred Web sites in the country.
"They [the Burmese censors] cannot keep even these young people - boys - cut off completely from the rest of the world," she said.
Finch is a special correspondent. Pomfret reported from Washington.
New Myanmar?
Apparently, Aung San Suu Kyi has realised that confronting the Junta will not be conducive to achieve her aim and instead she has to work within the restrictions imposed by the current dispensation.
The common Myamarese have suffered a lot because of the sanctions and it is time she possibly believes that such sanctions should get lifted where in succour reaches the common person. This will also project Aung San Suu Kyi as a larger than life figure since all Myanmar will know that it was she who could prevail upon the world to ease the pressure.
It will be in the US and West's interest to flood Myanmar with assistance, both in kind and in technical expertise and business. This will allow it to have an influence in Myanmar politics since Myanmar will slowly get dependant on Western assistance and without which she is solely dependant on one source - China and its copy cat goods.
Such an action with Aung San Suu Kyi's prodding will ensure the diminishing of Chinese influence on Myanmar and will give China greater cause to worry that the US is indeed 'encircling' China.
A greater cooperation of the West and through proxies such as ASEAN, will go a long way to isolate China and achieve consolidation in promoting a free and democratic Myanmar.
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