WASHINGTON:
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi said Tuesday she would not oppose a freeze on US sanctions but urged
caution, warning that her country could slide back after dramatic reforms.
Suu
Kyi, who was sworn in May 2 as a member of parliament after spending most of
the past two decades under house arrest, spoke via Skype to a rare event in
Washington involving former president George W. Bush.
Suu Kyi
gave a cautious nod to a call Monday by John McCain, a leading senator of
Bush's Republican Party, for a limited-time freeze on most sanctions on Myanmar
-- similar to a recent move by the European Union.
"That
is a way of sending a strong message that we will try to help the process of
democratisation but if this is not maintained, then we will have to think of
other ways of making sure that the aspiration of the people of Burma for
democracy is respected," Suu Kyi said, referring to Myanmar by its old
name.
"I
am not against the suspension of sanctions as long as the people of the United
States feel that this is the right thing to do at the moment. I do advocate
caution, though," she added.
"I
sometimes feel that people are too optimistic about the scene in Burma... You
have to remember that the democratisation process is not irreversible."
Repeating
one of her frequent themes, Suu Kyi said that reforms would only be considered
irreversible once the military -- long Myanmar's most powerful institution with
a history of abuses -- firmly committed to changing its ways.
Suu
Kyi, the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, enjoys wide respect across the
political spectrum in Washington and her views are considered critical to any
US decision to lift decades worth of sanctions on Myanmar.
Since
taking office a year ago, President Thein Sein has surprised even many cynics
by opening talks with Suu Kyi and ethnic rebels, allowing by-elections swept by
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and freeing political prisoners.
But Suu
Kyi said that Myanmar has not freed 271 political prisoners on a list handed by
her party to the home ministry.
"There
should be no political prisoners in Burma if we are really heading for
democratization," she said.
President
Barack Obama's Democratic administration has championed dialogue with Myanmar
since taking over from Bush but has been cautious about a full lifting of
sanctions, saying it needs to preserve leverage to encourage change.
Bush
was in Washington to launch the Freedom Collection, which brings together
mementos and lessons from dissidents and reformers. The collection has gone
online and will eventually have a physical home at the George W. Bush
Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
The
former president described the Arab Spring -- the protest wave that has toppled
authoritarian leaders since early 2011 -- as part of the "extraordinary
times in the history of freedom."
"Great
change has come to a region where many thought it impossible. The idea that
Arab people are somehow content with oppression has been discredited
forever," Bush said.
Bush
made no direct reference to the Iraq war, one of his most controversial
legacies, but said that the "tactics of promoting freedom will vary case
by case."
"America
does not get to choose if a freedom revolution should begin or end in the
Middle East, or elsewhere. It only gets to choose what side it is on,"
Bush said.
"But
America's message should ring clear and strong: We stand for freedom and for
the institutions and habits that make freedom work for everyone."
The
Freedom Collection event, held blocks away from the White House, marked a rare
return to the US capital for Bush, who quipped: "I actually found my
freedom by leaving Washington."
-AFP/ac
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