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NEWS - Suu Kyi, Myanmar's Tough Dem



``For me, real freedom is freedom from fear and unless you can live
            free from fear you cannot live a dignified human life.'' 
-Aung San Suu Kyi

Suu Kyi, Myanmar's Tough Democracy Advocate

            Reuters
            06-AUG-98

            BANGKOK, Aug 6 (Reuters)- Myanmar's indomitable opposition
            leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has upped the ante in her
decade-old
            campaign for democracy and is chafing at her political
shackles. 

            The slightly built Suu Kyi embarrassed the nation's military
rulers late
            last month by staging a six-day car sit-in on the outskirts
of the capital,
            Yangon, to protest against the authorities' refusal to allow
her to freely
            travel the country. 

            The government forcibly removed her from the protest site, a
rickety
            bidge, and drove her back to her home in Yangon as the
world's major
            powers criticised the rulers' heavy hand. 

            To underline her commitment to her cause, Suu Kyi, who was
said to
            have become ill during the sit-in, conveyed a direct,
no-nonsense
            message to the world via a senior member of her National
League for
            Democracy (NLD) party. 

            ``She sent word to this news conference that she will go out
again as
            soon she becomes well enough to travel,'' the party member
told
            reporters. 

            Three years after she was released from lengthy house
arrest, the
            1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner appears no closer to her dream
of a
            democratic Myanmar, but she refuses to give up. 

            The military-dominated, ruling State Peace and Development
Council
            (SPDC) has tried to put hurdles at her every turn. 

            Myanmar, formerly Burma, has been ruled by generals since
1962. 

            The SPDC has restricted her internal travel, cut off ties
with foreign
            media at times and detained and harassed party members. But
to no
            avail. 

            Suu Kyi has made a reappearance each time, finding
non-violent ways
            to let the world know she is still around, rallying support
to end what
            she calls military abuse of human rights and curbs on
political party
            movements. 

            Her message to the military is loud and clear: she wants to
open a
            dialogue with it and Myanmar's ethnic minorities to try to
end the
            nation's political stalemate. 

            Her request has been turned down each time. 

            The military has refused to recognise her, calling her by
her married
            name ``Mrs Aris,'' and accused her of being a paid agent of
the British
            and U.S. governments to create trouble in Myanmar. 

            Suu Kyi's NLD, however, has stood steadfastly behind her. It
has
            insisted there will be no talks with the military unless she
is included in
            any dialogue. 

            The SPDC, on the other hand, says she is a rabble-rouser who
wants
            Western-style democracy when Myanmar is not yet ready for
it. 

            From mid-1988, when she emerged to head the democracy
            movement, the sharp-tongued Suu Kyi has been the rallying
point for
            most Myanmar activists out to break the grip of the
military. 

            The military has ruled for nearly 36 years with an iron fist
and seen the
            resource-rich nation sink into poverty. 

            When millions took to the streets in 1988 to protest against
military
            repression, the army crushed the demonstrations, leaving
thousands
            dead or in jail. 

            On her return to Yangon in April 1988 to nurse her dying
mother, Suu
            Kyi got caught up in the student-led revolt and began
travelling around
            the country speaking of democracy. 

            In early 1989, she broke a virtual taboo by publicly
attacking officially
            retired military strongman Ne Win as the source of Myanmar's
ills. 

            This sealed her popular appeal, but also her fate-- she was
placed
            under house arrest on July 19, 1989, and remained there for
about six
            years. 

            Despite her arrest, Suu Kyi's NLD won a landslide election
victory in
            May 1990, winning over 80 percent of seats. 

            But the military refused to recognise the result and
silenced the NLD
            through arrests and intimidation until Suu Kyi was freed. 

            In late May, when the military allowed the NLD, in a
surprise decision,
            to commemorate the eighth aniversary of the 1990 election,
she
            seized the chance to put the junta on its heels. 

            She called for the convening of parliament comprising
elected
            representatives from the 1990 polls, and her NLD fixed an
August 21
            deadline. The military turned down the request. 

            ``It is necessary to implement the results of the elections
after holding
            them,'' she told a party gathering. ``Failure to implement
the result of
            the 1990 elections will be an insult to, and cheating of,
the people.'' 

            ``As a first step, parliament must be convened,'' she said. 

            Since then, she and her party have come under closer
surveillance and
            retaliation of all sorts from the military. 

            Suu Kyi was born in Yangon, then Rangoon, in 1945, the
daughter of
            the nation's independence hero Aung San who was assassinated
in
            1947. 

            She was educated in Myanmar and in India where her mother
was an
            ambassador. She later studied at Oxford and worked after
that with
            the United Nations in New York. 

            In 1972, she married British academic Michael Aris and they
raised
            two sons while moving between Bhutan, India and Japan. 

            Suu Kyi, who says arrests for her and other activists are an
            ``occupational hazard'' of the democracy movement, calls the
struggle
            of the Myanmar people one of freedom from fear. 

            ``For me, real freedom is freedom from fear and unless you
can live
            free from fear you cannot live a dignified human life.''