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The Nation : EDITORIAL: Highway imp



The Nation

EDITORIAL: Highway impasse: Suu Kyi still prisoner

AFTER eight years of political stalemate with the military junta, and with
no end in sight, some feel that Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
should take a more confrontational approach in breaking the deadlock. 

True, international pressure on the Burmese military government has been
unrelenting. And credit must go to the Burmese exiles, non-governmental
organisations and a number of Western nations for turning the screws on the
junta. Still, if change is to come, the opposition in Burma cannot sit and
wait. 

Suu Kyi, it appears, has decided that the waiting game cannot go on
indefinitely. Last month she upped the ante by calling on the ruling junta
to convene by Aug 21 a parliament of those elected in the May 1990
elections, overwhelmingly won by her National League for Democracy. 

And since last Friday, she has refused to budge from the spot where her car
was stopped at a small hamlet about 64 km from Rangoon, demanding that she
be allowed to travel to the provincial town of Pathein to meet her
supporters. Indeed, Suu Kyi had tried three times in as many weeks to break
loose from her military security detail in the bid to visit the provinces.
Each time, she was stopped by the government. 

This time, however, she is staying put. Sitting in her white Toyota Mark II
sedan in a desolate bridge near a highway, Suu Kyi is letting the world
know that despite being released from house arrest in 1995, she is still
very much a prisoner in her own country. 

The timing of the highway stand-off couldn't be any better. Asean foreign
ministers are meeting with their Western dialogue partners in the
Philippines this week. Not surprisingly, the military junta has accused Suu
Kyi of staging a publicity stunt. That they were the ones who stopped her
from proceeding is conveniently ignored. 

Nevertheless, the military is mindful that should anything untoward happens
to Suu Kyi, the situation in Burma could easily turn ugly. Political
tension has mounted since the economy imploded in the aftermath of the
Asian financial meltdown. The Burmese kyat has fallen to 360 to the dollar,
making a mockery of the official rate of 6:1. 

Indeed, Suu Kyi has not been in the best of health. Late last year, she
fell down a flight of stairs in her house, immobilising her for months.
Often, overseas well-wishers give her medicine whenever they visit.
Yesterday, her personal physicians who went to examine her said Suu Kyi is
suffering from dehydration after being cooped up in her car for six days in
blistering heat. 

The NLD has ominously warned that it holds the government responsible if
Suu Kyi's health deteriorated. Already, some students are distributing
anti-government pamphlets in Rangoon ahead of the planned reopening next
month of universities, closed almost three years ago. 

Given this, Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw must be a very lonely man in
Manila, despite the display of solidarity by his Asean counterparts who
only days before reaffirmed their ''non-intervention'' policy. Clearly,
some Asean countries are beginning to show their impatience at the lack of
progress in Burma. 

In an unusual departure from international diplomacy, Philippine Foreign
Secretary Domingo Siazon called for a ''people power'' revolution to
overthrow the Burmese military, much like what Filipinos did in ousting
dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. 

''I lamented the other day the presence of many well-educated Burmese who
studied abroad but they are not in the country. They are staying out as
life abroad is good. Now I said if you are really serious and wanting to
change the situation in the country you should go back and change it from
within.'' 

He added: ''Of course you risk life and limb, but that is part of the
process.'' 

Strong words indeed. No doubt, Suu Kyi has ample time to mull over Siazon's
remarks as the highway stand-off continues. For an avowed believer of
non-violence, Suu Kyi will find that a very difficult choice to make,
especially when confronting a junta that is trigger-happy. 



The Nation