Wired News: Burma - Politics (AP)

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   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- A week after her release from six years of house arrest,
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged her followers Monday to be patient as she works
toward restoring democracy.
   "I am also working hard to achieve our aims," she told members of her party, the National
League for Democracy. "I cannot say when we will get there."
   In remarks she repeated later to supporters gathered outside her Rangoon home, Mrs. Suu
Kyi asked them to believe in her "100 percent" and postpone criticisms until after their goal
has been reached.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been meeting in her home with
followers and others since Burma's military government released her July 10.
   Her first major public appearance is to be at Wednesday's Martyrs Day ceremony,
commemorating the 1947 assassinations of her father and other Burmese independence
heroes.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi helped lead huge pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 that soldiers
crushed, killing hundreds. Her party easily won a general election in 1990, even though she
already was in detention. The military prevented the party from taking power and has
severely weakened it by intimidation, arrests and destruction of party organizations.
   Authorities said Mrs. Suu Kyi was freed unconditionally, but it remained unclear to what
extent she will be allowed to resume political activities. Burma still bans political gatherings in
the streets of five or more people.
   Asked the state of her party, Mrs. Suu Kyi told reporters Monday: "It is strong. It is not the
same as it was in 1990 because they had to face a lot of problems but basically it is strong."