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INTERVIEW With Daw Aung San Suu Kyi



BANGKOK POST - August 29, 1999

ASSK

The Lady and the tape
INTERVIEW: A special correspondent runs the junta's gauntlet to meet
Aung San Suu Kyi and carry her message to the world

It was a cold and dull Sunday afternoon in Rangoon. Looking out of the
window, from the fifth floor of Yuzana Hotel on Shwedogodine Road, we
could
catch a glimpse of the headquarters of Burma's democracy movement, the
National League for Democracy (NLD).With its three red flags fluttering
in
the wind, the NLD office stood out from the restaurants and shops
nearby.
There were several white cars strategically parked near the NLD office.
Several men in longyis and white shirts were loitering in front of it,
others were sipping tea in teashops across the street.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi: "We are ordinary people struggling for our right
to
live ordinary, secure lives,"
"Hnin Hlaing Oo", our Burma contact, had warned us that the restaurants,
shops and white cars belong to the military, and the men hanging around
were
from the MIS (military intelligence service). Putting on our best
innocent
tourist look, and armed with a street map of Rangoon, we spend the next
three days soaking up the sights and sound of the city. It could be our
last
trip to Burma. Our plan was meticulously laid out. We were ready. Come
Wednesday, the day of our meeting, we would watch the morning sunrise at
the
Shwedagon Pagoda, have breakfast back at the hotel and leave for the NLD
office half an hour before the scheduled appointment. We would cross the
street, pretend to be tourists and "accidentally" stumble into the NLD
office.

No mean feat. But as we set off from the hotel, my knees began to shake
as
we got closer to our destination. What if we were stopped at the front
gate
and not allowed in? What if a car suddenly pulled up, an MI shoved us
into
the back and we disappeared forever from the face of this earth? Wild
thoughts raced through my head, but there was no turning back. In less
than
15 minutes, we found ourselves in the company of NLD members. The office
was
bustling with activities.

We were in safe territory, and everyone spoke the same language. We were
urshered into a room where we were to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader
of
the pro-democracy movement in Burma.

UP-CLOSE
Serene and almost saintly, the international media often paints her
larger
than life. Winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, Daw Suu and her party occupies
the
moral high ground, whereas the Burmese military generals are seen as
brutal
and intolerant. Up-close, she is petite, almost fragile, and more so on
that
day because she had the flu. She was barely audible but her voice was
strong
and firm. We began by asking her about the charges of inflexibility and
stubborness that have been leveled against her on a regular basis
because of
the deadlock with the military junta, the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC).

The SPDC has said it is prepared to talk to her party, but not her,
insisting that she is inflexible. Daw Suu disputes these allegations.
She
explains that the NLD has agreed to lower level dialogue since 1997. "An
Asian country acting as go-between, suggested we should accept lower
level
dialogue, and we said yes. But no answer (from the SPDC). And another
Asian
country suggested that we should limit ourselves to one subject only as
a
beginning to build confidence. We said yes; nothing came back."The NLD
recently compromised even further by allowing low-level talks to be held
without her.

However, the SPDC has yet to respond to this latest move. "So far, the
compromise was made on our side and the military authorities have never
shown any sign of making any compromises whatsoever. So I think it's now
time for them to prove their good faith."But waiting for the military to
do
this could be a long and tedious process. She says the NLD "is not going
to
sit and wait for dialogue.. we are going right ahead with the committee
representing parliament."Last September, having waited eight years in
vain
for elected members of parliament to be summoned to a formal session of
the
legislature, the NLD decided to form a committee representing the
parliament.

The SPDC has characteristically exacted retribution, by detaining
hundreds
of NLD members until they pledged not to participate. The military junta
also organised mass rallies to denounce the NLD action. However, this
has
not stopped the party. The 10-member committee representing the
parliament
continues to meet regularly and has set up committees covering
everything
from education to ethnic affairs to social welfare.

RESTRICTED ACCESS
Daw Suu's image as an icon of the pro-democracy movement has done a
great
deal to keep her country's plight in the eyes of the international media
and
community.

Even though her party's activities are marginalised at home by a regime
that
has almost complete control, she says the NLD commands considerable
influence abroad.

The West and Japan have responded to her calls to restrict aid and
investment and to generally isolate Burma, and non-govenmental
organisations
such as the International Labour Organisation and Amnesty International
have
issued stern warnings against the military's labour and human rights
record.

It is clearly important that the international media has done a great
deal
to keep the NLD in the eyes of the international community.

However restrictions and vigilance on the part of the military has
prevented
both journalists and diplomats from seeing her at will. Our meeting was
a
case in point. Despite her release from six years of house arrest in
1995,
it is common knowledge that Daw Suu's movements are restricted. She has
to
inform the military intelligence personnel an hour ahead of time if she
wants to leave her house.

The military junta frowns on outsiders' attempts to contact her, citing
it
as an interference in Burma's internal affairs. To simply meet her is
fraught with difficulties.

We were in Rangoon, on a tourist visa, to meet Daw Suu. The worst that
could
happen to us, we were told, was deportation. With several years of
experience arranging clandestine journeys into Rangoon, our Burma
contact
Hnin Hlaing Oo, knew exactly what to do when I called her to help set up
an
interview with the Lady, daughter of Burma's national hero, General Aung
San. Hnin Hlaing Oo made the initial contact with the NLD, requested an
interview on our behalf, and prepared us for the journey. She gave us a
detailed hand-drawn map and a list of instructions-where to stay, what
to do
and where to go if we were being followed by the MI. It's safest to
assume
that unseen ears may be listening into any telephone calls you make,
warned
Hnin Hlaing Oo, or to assume that while you are away from your hotel
room,
somebody may have entered and searched it.

Fearing eavesdroppers who may report us to the military, our
conversations,
with reference to the meeting, were to be carried out in code. It was
better
safe than sorry. On paper, it was mission impossible.

When in Rangoon, we were totally convinced our hotel room was bugged,
the
phone line tapped and everyone from the bellboy to the receptionist and
the
waiter were watching our every move.

Our conversations were carried out with studied vagueness. Paranoia and
fear
were the norm of the day.

Journalists and pro-democracy activists call it "Burma Head". A term
described as the state of mind when one attempts the clandestine journey
into Rangoon on a tourist visa to meet the leaders of the NLD,
particularly
"The Lady".

However, despite the difficulties the democratic party faces in keeping
the
Burma cause alive in the minds of the international public, Daw Suu
seemed
unperturbed. She said that a solution to the extremely complex problems
in
Burma will have to be fashioned primarily in Burma, rather than abroad.

"Our struggle is focused mainly on the support of our people, which is
our
first priority. The help of our international community, we appreciate
very
much, but that's secondary to the support of the people." But how far is
she
really in touch with the ordinary Burmese people given her isolation?
"It's
not as though I am secluded from the harshness of life in Burma. I am
secluded in a sense that no one is allowed to come and see me and they
can
stop me from going where I want to. But that in itself is facing the
hard
reality of life in Burma."The military has ruled Burma since 1962, after
brutally crushing anti-government protests. Years of failed socialist
policies and suppression have turned the country from "the rice bowl of
Asia" into an economic basket-case. Spending on defence, as a percentage
of
GDP, is twice as high as it is on health and education combined. As
such,
the country desperately needs international aid and investment.

Nevertheless, Daw Suu entertains no doubts about sanctions, and insist
that
bans and boycotts hit crony capitalism.

But doesn't foreign investment produce jobs? "What we are suffering from
in
Burma is bad governance," she says, "we are not really suffering from
lack
of economic aid. Burma is not a poor country. It's not a basket case.
It's
bad governance that has got us to where we are now."She says that the
benefits of Burma's market-oriented reforms and the influx of foreign
investment in the mid-1990s only benefited those who are connected to
the
government and has not spread beyond Rangoon.

In a report by a United Nations Working Group, it was noted that
economic
growth has not translated into any significant improvement in the
conditions
of the poor and in remote regions.

So what will her top three priorities be if and when she is able to form
a
government? "Unity of the country, health and education," she
summarises.

The country has been torn apart by civil war since the end of the Second
World War. Several ceasefire agreements were signed between the military
and
various ethnic groups, but most have failed. "A bicameral system would
be
what a lot of people would like," she says, "because we are a country
made
up of many ethnic nationalities."Burma used to be a nation of highly
educated people, most of whom have left.

Now the country is faced with a generation of young people missing out
on
education. Roughly four years worth of high school graduates are waiting
to
go to universities which were closed indefinately in 1996.

According to a UN working group report, three out of four children
nationwide don't even complete four years of primary school education.
As
for healthcare, medical facilities are few and far between. Most
villages
lack a clinic, requiring the sick to trek long distances to hospital.
But
how would the party finance health and education? Daw Suu is confident
that
when the elected party forms a government, it "will probably get a lot
of
aid." However, she adds, "we will be disciminatory about how we accept
it
because we understand the danger of too much aid pouring into the
country
leading to it being misused."She characteristically avoided questions
about
her personal life. Asked if she had made a big sacrifice, she says "It's
a
choice I made. You don't choose something and then say this is a
sacrifice.
If you make a choice, that's what you decide, it's a decision, not a
sacrifice."

THE EXIT
The interview ended. We spent a total of fifty-five minutes with her.
Daw
Suu's next appointment was to head an NLD women's meeting. She told us
to be
careful as we got ready to leave. We left as quickly as we arrived-but
not
quick enough. We jumped into a taxi and as soon as it drove off, we were
immediately followed.

Our first stop was at one of the markets in downtown Rangoon. Try to
lose
the MIs in a crowded place, was one of the many pieces of advice Hnin
Hlaing
Oo had given. After several taxi rides, and several market stops, we
thought
we had lost them. We decided we deserved a treat. We went to one of
Rangoon's poshest hotels for a drink; to celebrate our success thus
far-and
to psychologically prepare ourselves for the final journey to the
airport.

When we arrived at the departure hall, we immediately felt the strain of
all
eyes upon us. No amount of manoeuvring or dodging had succeeded in
shaking
off the MI. They were right on our back, now standing within view,
waiting
to search our bags. Our first hurdle was the airline check-in counter,
followed by the immigration desk. Everything went smoothly. No questions
asked, no answers needed. Finally, the final hurdle, the customs
officers.
We resigned ourselves to the inevitable. A male and two female officers
politely asked us for our passports and led us to a room in the far
corner
of the building. Together with several men in longyis and white shirts,
they
conducted an extensive luggage search. Everything was taken out of our
luggage-dirty laundry, toiletry bag, etc. They had their eyes and hands
on
everything; squeezing my toothpaste tube to feel if anything might be
hidden
inside, screened every page of my novel for any footnotes, listened to
every
single music cassette tape that we had, forwarding and rewinding, until
they
were satisfied that no interviews were recorded on those tapes. Nothing
in
sight was left out. All the rolls of film they could find were
confiscated.
Trying to look every bit the ignorant tourist, we asked them why they
were
searching us, and what they were looking for. They simply replied, "we
are
only doing our job."When they had completed the search, the men left the
room, leaving the female officers to conduct a body search. We were told
to
lift our shirts and pull down our pants, a move which seemed to
embarrass
them more than us. They were extremely apologetic. They were merely
doing
their job. No reference was made as to where we were that day and what
we
did.

The plane took off, and with us, an audio cassette tape and a roll of
film.
Mission impossible was a success. We had seen Rangoon, met the leaders
of
the NLD, and spoken to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Because of our mission,
fear
and paranoia had been our constant companions throughout our stay.
However,
it was a mere fraction to what ordinary Burmese people have to live with
every day of their lives, particularly members of the NLD. "We are
ordinary
people struggling for our right to live ordinary, secure lives," Daw Suu
had
told us. "The struggle for democracy in Burma gets so politicised, but
what
we are fighting for in the end isn't any particular political idea so
much
as the principal of good governance; the kind that allows the people
freedom
and security in the right balance."Whether the NLD is seen to be
marginalised at home or abroad, the important thing that the opposition
party in Burma has done is to create hope, or at any rate, to strengthen
and
spread a hope which was formerly confined to a few.