BANGKOK: After a
triumphant European tour where she was lauded by crowds, stars and heads of
state, Aung San Suu Kyi returns to the reality of Myanmar's politics this week
when she makes her debut as a lawmaker.
The empty streets of the nation's purpose-built capital
Naypyidaw are a far cry from Europe's cities where she was greeted by rock star
Bono, honoured at Oxford University and praised for her Nobel Peace Prize
acceptance speech.
But Naypyidaw will be the centre of attention on
Wednesday when the opposition leader and her National League for Democracy
(NLD) colleagues are set to take their seats in Myanmar's fledgling parliament.
The democracy champion, 67, and her NLD MPs were swept to
parliament in landslide April by-elections, and expectations are high now she
is at the locus of political power.
"She has now entered the field as an elected
politician to help guide (Myanmar's) next steps toward a secure, democratic,
just and prosperous future," Derek Mitchell, the future US ambassador in
Yangon, told a US Senate committee this week.
Despite the significance of her ascension from political
prisoner to parliament, the opposition leader will enjoy a reduced status from
that granted to her in Europe -- where she was welcomed as a head of state.
She now needs to work hand-in-hand with the reformist
government led by former general Thein Sein.
The military still dominates parliament, holding a
quarter of the seats, with an overwhelming majority of the remaining MPs drawn
from the party created by the former junta, the Union Solidarity and
Development Party.
"She will still have opportunities to make speeches
and statements... and try to influence things there, but she won't have much
authority," said Trevor Wilson, a former Australian ambassador to Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.
"She has a role of leader of the opposition and
member of the parliament. She is not the government."
While she was away, Thein Sein's cabinet "was
clearly trying to give the impression that they were getting on with the
job," Wilson said, adding that some in the regime "weren't very happy
with the adulation that she received."
Suu Kyi is widely regarded in the West as Myanmar's
leader-in-waiting, and before she left Paris on Friday she confirmed her
leadership aspirations to AFP, saying "any party leader must be prepared
for this possibility".
The military are "still the strongest, but
ultimately it is the Burmese people who must decide what direction they want
for the country", she added.
The NLD is dedicated to this goal.
"We assume that we will win the majority" in
2015, NLD MP Win Htein told AFP. "However, we have to amend (the
constitution) gradually... so that Aung San Suu Kyi can become the
president."
After her return on Saturday from the exhausting tour,
Suu Kyi has a few days to rest and prepare for her scheduled date at
Wednesday's parliament session.
As an MP her daily work will be dominated by issues
including the economic recovery, the fair distribution of oil and gas revenues
and the health and education sectors, according to Win Min, a US-based Myanmar
researcher at the Vahu Development Institute.
But she will also be thinking about the longer term
political future.
"The challenge for her is how to earn confidence
from the military leadership, and to compromise with the current government
leaders to make sure they will transfer power once she wins," Win Min
said.
At least, that's what her supporters want her to achieve.
"She's the Mandela of our time."
Suu Kyi's history as an activist and political prisoner
chimes with the experience of the South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson
Mandela -- who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize two years after her, in 1993.
But some analysts urge caution over raising expectations
too high as Suu Kyi steps into the uncertain terrain of Myanmar's political
reforms, with major pitfalls ahead -- including the claims of the nation's
myriad ethnic groups.
"Western leaders have revived the iconic status of
Aung San Suu Kyi and seem to see in her the only Burmese figure capable of
guiding the country's democratisation," said Renaud Egreteau, a researcher
at the University of Hong Kong.
"They'd better not forget that Myanmar is much more
diverse."
- AFP/wm
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