Yangon, November 14: Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, freed from seven years of house arrest, told thousands of wildly cheering supporters on Sunday that she would continue to fight for human rights and the rule of law in the military-controlled nation. She called for face-to-face talks with the junta’s leader.
Suu Kyi further urged thousands of supporters not to lose heart.
She spoke to about 5,000 people who crowded around the dilapidated headquarters of her political party, the first stop for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate after leaving the lakeside residence that had been her prison.
“I believe in human rights and I believe in the rule of law. I will always fight for these things,” she said. “I want to work with all democratic forces and I need the support of the people.”
“Democracy is when the people keep a government in check. I will accept the people keeping me in check,” she said.
“You have to stand up for what is right,” the charismatic 65-year-old Nobel peace laureate added in a rousing speech that showed she had not lost her touch to mesmerise large crowds. “If we want to get what we want, we have to do it in the right way,” she said to cheers and loud applause outside the headquarters of her National League for Democracy party, adding the “basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech.”
Suu Kyi, 65, told reporters her message to junta leader General Than Shwe was, “Let’s speak to each other directly.” The two last met in secret talks in 2002 at the encouragement of the United Nations.
“I am for national reconciliation. I am for dialogue. Whatever authority I have, I will use it to that end. I hope people will support me,” she said.
She entered the small compound of her National League for Democracy as people shouted “We love Suu” amid thunderous applause.
Inside, she met with Yangon-based diplomats and was later scheduled to attend the funeral of a close friend and pay a customary visit to the city’s sacred Shwedagon pagoda.
“This is an unconditional release. No restrictions are placed on her,” her lawyer Nyan Win said.
There was speculation whether the charismatic and relentlessly outspoken Suu Kyi would use her freedom to challenge the ruling military head-on, or be more conciliatory.
She did not sound a strident note, saying she bore no grudge against those who had held her in detention for more than 15 of the last 21 years, adding that she had been well-treated.
“I hope they (the military) won’t feel threatened by me. Popularity is something that comes and goes. I don’t think that anyone should feel threatened by it,” she said.
Suu Kyi thanked her well-wishers and asked them to pray for those still imprisoned by the junta. Human rights groups say the government holds more than 2,200 political prisoners.
“If my people are not free, how can I say I am free? Either we are all free together or we are not free together,” she said.
Speaking of her isolation while under house arrest, Suu Kyi said she “always felt free within myself. I kept myself pretty much on an even keel.” But she said that for years she had only listened to the radio, adding “I’d like to listen to human voices.”
In her first public appearance on Saturday evening, Suu Kyi indicated she would continue with her political activity but did not specify whether she would challenge the military with mass rallies and other activities that led to her earlier detentions.
“We have a lot of things to do,” said Suu Kyi, who has come to symbolise the struggle for democracy in the isolated and secretive nation once known as Burma. The country has been ruled by the military since 1962.
“National leader”
The state-controlled New Light of Myanmar newspaper said she was granted a pardon after “she was found to be displaying good conduct”. It quoted Police Chief Khin Yi as telling her that the government was “ready to give her whatever help she needs”.
She is expected to rebuild her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which scored a landslide election victory in 1990 which the junta ignored, but her exact role is not clear after an election last week dominated by an army-backed party.
Other pro-democracy parties looked forward to her leadership.
“We consider her a national leader and she does not belong to any single group or party. She belongs to the entire nation,” said Khin Maung Swe, leader of the National Democratic Force, a party led by renegade members of Suu Kyi’s party.
“We are very anxious to hear her voice.”
The NLD, Myanmar’s strongest democratic force, was dissolved by the military in September for failing to register for an election it dismissed as unfair and unjust. The party has since been declared an “unlawful association” and will play no official role in the new political system of the former Burma.
Across the commercial capital Yangon, residents celebrated freedom for “The Lady”, as she is affectionately known, a mesmerising speaker capable of drawing big crowds.
“All we are worried about now is whether she will be able to get a chance to work for the peace and prosperity of the country,” said Ba Ohn, 43, s food stall owner. “Things could not be worse for us.”
Electrician Ko Aye Cho, 33, expressed relief. “I consider her as my own mother. I hope she will bring our country toward a brighter future peacefully.”
Although Myanmar is rich in natural gas, timber and minerals, it ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries. Ethnic militias oversee the world’s second-largest opium crop, its economy is monopolised by the military elite, and about a third of the population lives below the poverty line.
Chronic economic mismanagement during 48 years of direct military rule has ruined much of the infrastructure of a country that was one of Southeast Asia’s wealthiest, the world’s top rice exporter and a major energy producer.
Suu Kyi’s popularity is still a threat to the military although her release may give the junta a hint of legitimacy after last week’s election, the first in 20 years, was ridiculed as a sham to prolong military rule behind a facade of democracy.
World leaders — from US President Barack Obama who hailed her as a personal hero to those in Europe and Asia — welcomed her release but many governments urged the junta to free all Myanmar’s estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
—Agencies