Suu Kyi: Never say never

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Suu Kyi: Never say never

The Nation's Stevan Gan talks to Nobel peace laureate  Aung San Suu Kyi last week in Rangoon about the future of the democratic movement in Burma. The following are excerpts of the interview.
	

        Q-      It has been 10 years since the 1988 uprising and eight years since the annulled elections.  The National League for Democracy [NLD) has called for a dialogue with the military junta, but there has been little response from them.  What are you going to do to break the impasse? 
        A-      All sides have to realise that the impasse is not doing anybody any good.  Ten years is not much compared to the length of time which other countries had to struggle for democracy.  So I do not think there is any cause for too much despair or disappointment at this stage.  It is quite normal for authoritarian regimes to be intractable for long periods.  One just perseveres.

        Q-      But as time goes by, the people may get complacent.
        A-      No, I don't think so.  As time goes by, the people will realise more and more that the present state of affairs is just going to get worse.  The economy has deteriorated visibly in the past years.  Actually we have been saying - since 1995 after I was released from house arrest - that this is going to be the way the economy is going to go, and we said that not because we were astrologers, but by listening to the people who have the courage to tell us what is really going on.

        Q-      'Will there be another uprising during these hard times?
        A-      I don't know, quite frankly.  I have never been someone who claims to be able to foresee what is going to happen.  Also I have never been fond of predicting the future.  I am confident there will he change, but I do not know exactly how change will come.  But certainly the discontent of the people will count a big deal.

       Q-        Will the NLD be tapping this discontent to put pressure on the ruling State Peace and Development Council [SPDC)
        A-      It is not a matter of trying to take advantage of a very difficult situation.  We are doing the work of a legitimate opposition, and opposition parties everywhere are there to point out the problem is that exist in  the country and to urge the government to do something about it and, more or less, to say to them that if you cannot do that, then you have got to let other people have the chance to do it.  The ironic thing about our situation is that we should not be an opposition at all, because the people elected us in 1990.

        Q-      But the SPDC continues to ignore the NLD.  How long are you going to wait?
        A-      It is not a matter of waiting.  It is not as if we are sitting and doing nothing.  It is a matter of working.  We try to find ways and means of persuading the authorities to understand that what they are doing is not good for the country.

        Q-      Will you he organising any civil disobedience?
        A-      Civil disobedience in the sense of demonstrations?  We have never done such a thing.  We have not been forced to consider such measures.  We think that the people's movement must come spontaneously. We can only demonstrate to the people what we are prepared to do for democracy. It is quite obvious that our people are willing to do a lot, but these people just go into prisons all the time.  It is not for nothing that they are going to prison.

        Q-      Given the deteriorating economic, situation in Burma, do you foresee the country becoming like Indonesia, where people become more discontent?
        A-      I have come across people who always claim that they can predict what is going to happen.  I am not talking about astrologers; I am talking about those people who think that they are in a position to analyse the situation ...

        Q-      Like journalists?
        A-      ... [laughs] and some others.  But I think I will forgive the journalists for doing that.  It is part of their job.

        Q-      Will there he any possibility of spontaneous demonstrations soon?
        A-      I cannot say.  That is your job.  You have to find out.  But in a society like ours we just have to listen to rumours, and that is very difficult.

        Q       How would the NLD respond to a spontaneous demonstration?
        A-      We are a political party, and as such we are in a position to organise and discipline our people.

        Q-      What if the SPDC wants a dialogue on the condition that you are not part of the NLD negotiating team?
        A-      We want a genuine political dialogue without any preconditions.  A genuine political dialogue involves equality.  This means that they choose their own representatives and we chose ours, but if they chose their own representatives and ours as well, that is not a dialogue on an equal basis.  For that reason we will not accept this.  It is not just a matter of me.  They cannot say [NLD Chairman] Aung Shwe should not take part either, and according to the mandate by the NLD, Aung Shwe and I have to handle this together.

        Q-      If you do have genuine dialogue, what would you say to the SPDC? 
        A-      I do not think I could say this to you.  It would not be quite right for me to say to the press exactly what we are going to discuss first before we could even inform members of the NLD.

        Q-      If SPDC says it wants to form a coalition government with the NLD, would that be acceptable to you?
        A-      We are keeping all our options open.  It is very important never to say never m politics.

        Q-      So the option of forming a government with  SPDC is there.
        A-      We are always prepared to consider different options.

        Q-      Why did the State Law and Order Council (Slorc) change its name to
SPDC?
        A-      There are those who say that it is because some astrologers said Slorc would not last for more than nine years, so they decided to change the name.  There are those who say that some public-relations company advised them that the name Slorc was not very nice.

        Q-      There has been speculation that certain Slorc generals were punished for corruption.
        A-      We have heard that several of them are virtually under house arrest, and they have certainly not been seen in public.  We do not know exactly what has been done to them.  One hears that some have been interrogated and dismissed from their jobs.  In a society like ours where there is no freedom of the press, one has to talk simply in terms of what one has heard.

        Q-      There are also rumours about a split between the young and old members
within the NLD.
        A-      Of course there are people with different opinions, and that is democracy.  There are bound to be people with different opinions, and I think we have to accept that as part of the democratic procedure.

        Q-      'When  will you say "I am giving up"?  
        A-      Why should I say that?  As long as even one person remain in Burma who is not going to give up, then I am not going to leave that person and abandon the cause for my own peace of mind.

        Q-      Some say economic sanctions only harm the people of Burma.
        A-      I stand by economic sanctions against Burma because I do not think that economic sanctions have hurt anybody except the richest people, and it is partly because of these people who have become rich over the last few years that we are not achieving genuine progress.  They are not interested in the kind of change that is necessary for the rest of the country to prosper.

        Q-      The most current international issue is the threat of a military strike against Iraq. What are your opinions on this?  
        A-      We are a non-violent group, and we have never encouraged violence. I know that the problem with Iraq has gone on for longer than it should, and I know that the people of Iraq are suffering.  It is always very difficult when there is a regime which makes it impossible for others to help the people without propping up the regime as well.

But the situation in  Burma is different because the sanctions against Burma are not the kind that but the people at all.  It only hurts the richest of the rich.  The gap between the rich and poor has widened greatly , and the economic sanction will only help to close the gap.

        Q-      You must have heard about Indonesia's opposition figure Megawati Sukamoputri.
        A-      Yes.

        Q-      Some go as far as comparing her to you: you were both daughters of well respected historical leaders, and both of you are fighting against military regimes.
        A-      I do not know her personally, Of course I could see that people would draw similarities between her and me, but I am always a bit wary, because if she had been a man people would not have drawn the similarities.  It is simply because we are both women that people start drawing the comparison. People do not usually compare me so much to other men.

        Q-     Thailand is facing a debilitating economic crisis, and there are talks of expelling some of the Burmese refugees and migrant workers.
        A-      Thais are Buddhists, are they not? I think they should be able to demonstrate loving-kindness and compassion.  It is very easy to be compassionate and kind when things are going well, but when things are not going well for you your kindness and compassion is really valuable.  If you have a lot to eat it doesn't matter much if you toss a cake for somebody, but if you are prepared to share your last bowl of rice with somebody, that is very kind and compassionate.

I don't think that Thailand is in a state that people are being forced to share their
last bowl of rice with the refugees, so I would like to appeal to the Thai government to do what they can to alleviate their suffering, and if they themselves cannot do it, to allow those who are prepared to help the refugees, such as United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the NG0s.

        Q-      Do you have a message for Asean governments?
        A-      I would like to appeal to them to do what  they can to help bring about democratisation of Burma because we do believe that once there is an accountable and transparent government in this country, we shall be able to improve our economic situation, and we shall be able to make our contribution to the region.
So whenever there are problems connected to the region  Burma would not be a dead weighs but a source of help.  At the moment of course we are needing help, but we look forward to the time when we can contribute to the progress and peace in the region.

        Q-      A few months after your release from  house arrest in 1995, you said that Burmese were still prisoners in their own country.  Has the situation  changed?
        A-      The economic situation is much worse. That means that the people are suffering more.  Our civil freedom has not increased. The political situation has not improved. So compared to 1995 we are worse off now.

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