The Burmese chose Suu Kyi

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

The Burmese chose Suu Kyi

Bangkok Post
April 9, 1998

Perhaps Burma "has what many world travelers have been seeking", if many
world travelers seek a beautiful country ravaged by 35 years of military
rule, an economy rife with corruption, and a people whose speech and
political activity are curtailed at gunpoint, all augmented by a community
of profiteering investors who benefit none but the military.

Perhaps Burma offers "quality of life", if quality of life does not include
basic rights and freedoms; you may know that your family is safe, but only
as long as you do what the military says, don't admit that you care about
democracy or human rights, and don't threaten to stop Burma's lifeblood of
foreign investment.

Mr James (Apr 4) advocates "controlled growth", which, he implies, somehow
could not be achieved under a democratic system. He argues that the people
need to be educated, even though Burma has one of the highest literacy
rates in the developing world.

Most insulting are his hypocritical claims that "only Burmese citizens know
what pace is best for their own country". Mr James appears to have
forgotten that Burmese citizens did attempt to determine their own future;
they overwhelmingly selected Aung San Suu Kyi's party to lead them. As for
Suu Kyi herself, she has led the (popularly elected) pro-democracy movement
for nearly 10 years now, and Burma's citizens do not seem to think it a
problem that she has no military (government) experience.

The basic point, however, is that regardless of Suu Kyi's motives,
regardless of whether Mr James would want her as his leader (he says he
does not), the Burmese people have chosen her party to lead them. And she
would be irresponsible to do otherwise.

Marco Simons 
Free Burma Coalition
New England Burma Roundtable 
Harvard University, Massachusetts