Newsgroup: it.discussioni.folli
Titolo: Interview with Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi - Burma's elected leader - was born in 1945, the daughter
of Burma's national hero Aung San. She was two years old when he was
assassinated, just before Burma gained the independence to which he had
dedicated his life. After her education in Rangoon, Delhi and Oxford, she
worked for the United Nations in New York and Bhutan. She married an
Englishman and spent several years raising a family in England. Then in 1988
she returned to Burma to care for her dying mother. Her return coincided
with the outbreak of a spontaneous revolt against 26 years of political
repression and economic decline. Suu Kyi quickly emerged as the most
effective and articulate leader of the movement and the party she founded,
the National League for Democracy, went on to win a colossal electoral
victory in 1990. But the military junta refused to transfer power as it had
promised and until last year kept her under house-arrest in Rangoon.
From her home she now organizes weekly political meetings - but she is as
much at risk as any other citizen in SLORC's Burma and the regime still
finds ways of restricting her movement and her contacts with the outside
world. John Pilger recently interviewed her in her Rangoon home.
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JP: Three years ago an official of the regime said: 'You can forget about
Suu Kyi. She's finished.' Here you are, hardly finished. How do you explain
that?
SK: I think it's because democracy is not finished in Burma. Until we finish
this course for democracy, none of us who are involved in it will be
finished.
Do you think the regime is as confident now as it was?
It's difficult to judge. The authoritarian regime always takes the attitude
that 'we are totally in control and anybody who is in opposition to us has
no place in the country and they are finished'. But what really impresses me
is the courage of the people who have already been in prison and who
continue to work for democracy. They know what it is like to be in a Burmese
prison and they know that they are liable to be put back there any day. And
yet they do not give up. That's very inspiring. I always feel that even if
only five such people remain we will get democracy - and there are certainly
many more than five!
You've become quite an extraordinary icon of hope. Is that a burden?
Yes and no. Yes, because if people base their hopes on you, then of course
it's a responsibility. No, because I've always said that I can't do it alone
and neither can the National League for Democracy. We need the help of the
people and we need the rest of the world. I have always said I would do my
best. I have never promised that will get the people democracy.
No, but it's what people expect of you. The people I've spoken to clearly
regard you as something of a saint - almost a miracle worker.
I am not a saint and I think you'd better tell the world... I would not like
to be thought of as a saint...
What are your sinful qualities then?
I've got a short temper. I'd rather sit down and read than really be engaged
in public meetings and things like that...
Could you tell me about the first day you were placed under house-arrest?
There were a lot of people here. We were all in good humour... There wasn't
a scurry to burn incriminating material because we didn't have any
incriminating material. My two sons were here and I remember them playing
Monopoly with some of the students. The older people sat around and talked
and while the phone was still usable made calls to their families... It was
not unexpected and we just thought, 'well, yes, this is it...' I thought I
would be taken to NC [the maximum security prison and was rather
disappointed when I was left here and the others were taken away...
During all those years when you were under house-arrest did you ever waver
in your resolve not to accept exile?
No, of course I didn't. I had promised the people I would do everything I
could do to get democracy... So there was no question of going into exile...
Is Burma going to be free in your lifetime?
I can't tell what my lifetime is going to be, so I can't answer that
question.
All right, then. Will Burma be free within the foreseeable future? Let's say
within the next ten years?
I think so, yes.
What can people around the world do to help?
First, think about the situation in Burma. Then I would ask them to study
the UN General Assembly Resolution on Burma and to help implement it. It's a
good resolution: it calls for the early and full restoration of democracy,
for the acknowledgement of the will of the people in the 1990 elections and
for the full participation of the people in the political life of Burma.
And, of course, it calls for the release of political prisoners and
observation of basic human rights.
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The full interview with Aung San Suu Kyi is available in the New
Internationalist Issue 280 (June)
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ŠCopyright: New Internationalist 1996

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