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FROM THE WASHINGTON POST, NOV. 30, 1995 BY DOUG FINE Rangoon, Burma .–Using the backdrop of a government-sponsored constitutional convention as a forum for stepping up opposition to the country’s military rules, Nobel Prize-winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said today that Burma is not headed on the path of democracy. Four and half months after her release from house arrest by the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council, Aung San Suu Kyi addresses increasingly large crowds each weekend afternoon from the gate of her home near Rangoon University. But in a news conference and talk today at her fenced-in compound, she revealed that her National League for Democracy, which overwhelmingly won elections in 1990 that the military refused to recognize, has notified government officials that the party would not participate in the constitutional deliberations. The military government hopes the convention will legitimize its rule by forging an `enduring state constitution.’ Insisting that the military first open a dialogue with her party, which it has refused to do, Aung San Suu Kyi said, `A country which is drawing up a constitution that will decide the future of a state should have the confidence of the people. Her party’s boycott has resulted in a palpable increase in tension in Rangoon. Party leaders discovered security forces stationed outside their homes when they awoke today, a day after the convention opened. Despite the tense atmosphere and the chaotic presence at her house of dozens of convention delegates barred from attending the convention, Aung San Suu Kyi took time to outline her views on democracy, the goal of her political movement, which has taken on new life since her release. `With 7 million votes for the party in 1990,’ she said, `the views of the people are very clear. They want a constitution that will defend their basic rights.’ Despite considerable corruption and a thriving black market, Aung San Suu Kyi insisted that Burma is adequately prepared for democracy and maintained that its absence is responsible for the corruption. `This country was a democracy once from independence in 1948 until a 1962 military coup, and our situation then was very much better than it is now,’ she said. `The Burmese people are disciplined and receptive if you explain what is wanted of them and why.’ Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in 1989, a year after the military instituted a crackdown on her supporters that resulted in thousands of deaths. Many of her associates are still in prison. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her democracy campaign. Since her release from confinement in July, she has repeatedly called for reconciliation and dialogue among democratic forces, ethnic groups and her military foes. Responding to the military’s charges that her party’s methods are confrontational, Aung San Suu Kyi reacted angrily. `What they have termed `confrontational’ is that we have asked for a dialogue, which we want in order to prevent confrontation. To silence the views of people whose opinions are different by putting them in prison is far more confrontational. Yet the move to boycott the constitutional convention is likely to be viewed as a provocation by the regime, which observers said could widen the gulf between government and opposition. The regime says Burma will become a multi-party democracy after the new constitution is drafted, but it has not provided a timetable. Aung San Suu Kyi, however, said the boycott was necessary. `They won’t even talk to us,’ she said with a laugh. `How could the gulf be widened? It can only be narrowed.’ As for the military’s intentions in convening the constitutional convention, one Western embassy official, reflecting a widely held view, said, `The path which seems to be one chosen would lead to the drafting of a constitution which calls for transition that ensures civilian rule on the front end, with continued real authority being held indefinitely by the military.’ One of the guidelines for the proposed constitution guarantees a `leading role’ for the military in politics, and another bans anyone married to a foreigner from assuming the office of president. Aung San Suu Kyi is married to Michael Aris, a British academic. She has continued to talk of compromise. `We have always said we want to talk over our differences to find an answer that’s acceptable to everyone,’ she said. `We have never closed any doors and are open to any discussions which might result in what’s best for Burma’s people.’ Aung San Suu Kyi insists that her party has no timetable for transition to democracy, and she avoids being locked into any one scenario by saying that the situation is so prone to change. But Burma is very much at a crossroads now. After years of sealed borders and international ostracism, the government is actively seeking investment, tourism and political legitimacy. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been outspoken in urging foreign investors to `jolly well wait’ before bringing business into the country, said, `Luxury hotels do not mean a developed Burma .’ Her photogenic presence, Oxford education, revered lineage–her father was the hero of Burma’s independence–and her absence from Burma during the 1970s and ’80s, which distanced her from factional infighting within the democrats’ diverse coalition, make her a magnet for Burma’s discontented. Encounters in Burma ’s remote interior confirm her widespread support. A shop owner in Yaunghwe, in Shan State, made sure the coast was clear and proudly showed off a T-shirt picturing Aung San Suu Kyi with her quote, `Fear is a habit. I am not afraid,’ on the back. A Buddhist monk in Mandalay, flipping through an English guidebook, came across her photo and exclaimed, `Do you know who this is? Do you? This is our national heroine.’ |