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Aung San Suu Kyi urges ¡¥non-violent
revolution¡¦
DEMOCRACY:The Nobel Peace Prize winner said she would take
any opportunity for talks with the military junta, which she hopes would change
rather than fail
AFP, YANGON, MYANMAR
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Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi,
center, waves as she arrives at the high court to give an affidavit in a process
to make her National League for Democracy party a legal entity again, in Yangon,
Myanmar, yesterday.
PHOTO: EPA
Newly freed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday called for a ¡§non-violent
revolution¡¨ in Myanmar as she knuckled down to the task of rebuilding her
weakened opposition movement.
Speaking at her party headquarters in Yangon, where she met senior regional
members for the first time in years, she told the BBC she was sure democracy
would eventually come to her country, although she did not know when.
¡§I think we also have to try to make this thing happen ... Velvet revolution
sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent
revolution. Let¡¦s put it that way,¡¨ the 65-year-old said.
Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest on Saturday, less than a week after
a controversial election that cemented the junta¡¦s decades-long grip on power,
but was widely criticized by democracy activists and Western leaders as a sham.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been locked up by Myanmar¡¦s regime for 15
of the past 21 years, gave her first political speech in seven years on Sunday,
appealing to thousands of her jubilant supporters for unity.
She said in her latest interview, published on the BBC Web site, that she would
take any opportunity for talks with the ruling military junta, which she wanted
to change rather than for it to fall.
¡§I don¡¦t want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to
dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism,¡¨ she said.
¡§I think it¡¦s quite obvious what the people want; the people just want better
lives based on security and on freedom,¡¨ she said.
A spokesman for her National League for Democracy said he did not know whether a
letter would be sent to junta leader Than Shwe to request a meeting.
¡§We have asked since the beginning for dialogue. She is always ready for
dialogue,¡¨ said the spokesman, Nyan Win.
Aung San Suu Kyi has had only limited contact with the outside world for most of
the past two decades, but the telephone line at her crumbling lakeside mansion
will be restored ¡§soon,¡¨ an unidentified Myanmar official said.
Attention is now focused on whether Aung San Suu Kyi can unite the country¡¦s
deeply divided opposition and bring change to the impoverished nation.
¡§I want to work with all democratic forces,¡¨ she told supporters on Sunday,
saying she wanted to ¡§hear the voice of the people¡¨ before deciding her course
of action.
There was a new air of optimism on the streets of Yangon, but some observers
have warned that the dissident is no ¡§miracle worker.¡¨
¡§She has always voluntarily tested the military authorities, has always wanted
to push the red line drawn by the regime,¡¨ said Renaud Egreteau, a Myanmar
expert at the University of Hong Kong.
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