YANGON, Burma (AP) — Opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi cautioned Thursday that the democratic reforms started
by Burma’s nominally civilian government are not “unstoppable” and will succeed
only if the powerful military accepts the changes.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate
said she is cautiously optimistic more progess can be made.
Her comments in an interview
with The Associated Press were clearly meant to caution the West not to get
carried away by the reforms and to remind it that Burma’s long-ruling military
still wields enormous power despite a veneer of democracy provided by the
elections.
“I wouldn’t say that there are
many dangers, but I wouldn’t say that it is unstoppable either. I think there
are obstacles, and there are some dangers that we have to look out for,” Suu
Kyi said.
“I am concerned about how much
support there is in the military for changes. In the end that’s the most
important factor, how far the military are prepared to cooperate with reform
principles.”
She spoke as she and her
National League for Democracy moved closer to full participation in mainstream
electoral politics. The government approved the party’s registration Thursday,
and the NLD can now pick candidates to run in by-elections on April 1.
The party decided to rejoin
electoral politics after the military-backed but elected government took office
in March, replacing army rule and tenatively easing years of repression. Its
changes included legalizing labor unions, increasing press freedom and opening
a dialogue with Suu Kyi.
Critics have characterized the
NLD’s decision to rejoin electoral politics as a capitulation after years of
resistance to military rule. The party won a 1990 general election but was
denied power after the military refused to allow parliament to be seated. In
2010, the military held another general election, but the NLD found the rules
unfair and declined to participate, leading to its being purged from the list
of legal political parties.
The critics fear the NLD’s
participation helps the government maintain a veneer of legitimacy for what is
actually — by constitutional statute, as well as the majority held by
pro-military lawmakers — continued domination of politics by the army.
“I think this year we shall
find out whether we are making progress toward democracy,” Suu Kyi said, adding
that benchmarks to consider are “the release of all political prisoners,… how
the by-elections are conducted,… how much more freedom of information is
allowed and whether strong steps are taken to establish the rule of law.”
The release of political
prisoners — estimated to number between 600 and 1,700 — is a touchstone for
reformers and activists abroad.
Several mass amnesties for
convicts have resulted in the release of more than 200 political detainees, but
many high-profile prisoners still are serving long terms. The latest release on
Tuesday met with particular disappointment, because hopes had been raised by
the government’s increased engagement with the NLD and foreign countries
critical of the military, evidenced most notably by the December visit of U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. British Foreign Secretary William
Hague is visiting this week, bringing the same message of encouraging reforms.
Hague is the first British
foreign secretary to visit Burma since 1955. In meetings with President Thein
Sein and other government officials in Naypyitaw on Thursday, he emphasized
“the importance the British government attaches to the reforms that the Burmese
government has undertaken in the last six months,” he said in a statement
released in London.
Britain continues to call Burma
by its name under British rule, rather than the local government’s official
designation.
Though Hague’s two-day visit
signals a shift in relations, Britain won’t promise any immediate change in
European Union sanctions on arms sales, asset freezes and travel bans — or
change a policy that discourages U.K. businesses from trade with Burma.
He added Britain “expects to
see the release of all political prisoners, credible by-elections in April, and
a genuine alleviation of the suffering in ethnic areas.”
Suu Kyi agreed that the failure
to release more political detainees was “disappointing” but see the prisoners
as the manifestation of a bigger problem, the “lack of rule of law,” which
means activists could be put away again for the flimsiest of reasons.
She said she feels there are
differences among the authorities on who might actually pose a danger to
society, opting for confrontation and causing unrest.
“I have always said it would be
best to release everybody at the same time. Keeping some back does not really
help. Nobody’s grateful, everybody’s disappointed if they release just a few,”
she said.
Suu Kyi said resolving the
country’s long-running ethnic conflicts is likely the more important issue over
time, because “unless there is ethnic harmony it will be very difficult for us
to build up a strong democracy.” The country’s sizable ethnic minorities have
for decades struggled for greater autonomy, leading to cycles of brutal
counterinsurgency war.
Although the previous military
regime concluded cease-fires with many of the groups, the pacts have been
precarious and some of the larger guerrilla armies never joined them. Despite
an order by Thein Sein to cease hostilities, the military is engaged in a
bloody struggle against the Kachin minority in the north, often overlooked
because of its remote location and the positive developments nationally.
“The Kachin situation is important
now because of the hostilities and the fate of the refugees and the local
people,” said Suu Kyi. But the conflict is also representative of relations
between the government and ethnic nationalities all over the country, a problem
that should be resolved by a political settlement, she said.
Suu Kyi is expected to run for
a parliamentary seat, a decision her party will formalize later this month.
Asked about the risk that she will be co-opted, specially holding a small
minority of seats, she said the party will continue to work outside parliament.
“We mustn’t forget that we have
seen doing our work outside parliament, even when there was no parliament, for
the last 20-something years. We will continue with our extra-parliamentary
activities and what activities we undertake within the government are just an
addition to the political work we have been doing for the past 23 years,” she
said.
She defended her decision to
follow the electoral path: “I think it’s very dangerous if so-called democratic
politicians think they are above the electoral process.”
AP
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