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Wired News: Suu Kyi says time to l



Subject: Wired News:  Suu Kyi says time to look forward

    By Deborah Charles
     RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - Recently-freed Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi said Friday she wants to put the past behind her and move forward in bringing
democracy to this military-ruled Southeast Asian nation.
     "I don't live in the past. It's not the memories that are so important," Suu Kyi said in an
interview with Reuters at her lakeside home where she lived under house arrest for the last
six years.
     Clutching a bouquet of flowers and sitting in front of old family photographs, Suu Kyi said
her mission was to go ahead with the movement for democracy in Burma, one of the world's
poorest and most isolated countries.
     Suu Kyi, speaking four days after her unexpected and unconditional release from house
arrest, said she was prepared to engage in dialogue with the military leaders who
imprisoned her in order to find common ground.
     She also said Friday that Japan should not hurry to resume economic aid to Burma and
urged western pressure groups and other Asian governments to react cautiously toward her
surprise release, the Kyodo news agency reported.
     Following Suu Kyi's release Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Japan
wanted to assist Burma as it moved toward democracy, and that it was willing to discuss yen
loan projects when the Burmese government was ready.
     Japan stopped extending yen loans to Burma after the military suppression of a
pro-democracy uprising in 1988, killing and imprisoning thousands of people.
     "I wonder why the Japanese government feels a need to hurry about it. I don't think there is
really such a need," Kyodo quoted her as telling reporters outside her residence in
Rangoon. "They should wait and see whether there is a genuine move toward reconciliation
and a truly democratic system of government," she said.
     She also urged Western pressure groups to await developments in Burma before
changing their tactics.
     "All those who are interested in democratic development in Burma should wait and see
what is going to happen before they decide to change their tactics," Kyodo quoted her as
saying.
     "Nothing has changed yet, apart from my release," she said.
     Suu Kyi was detained by Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC) in July 1989 for "endangering the state" after making verbal attacks on the military,
which killed or imprisoned thousands while suppressing pro-democracy uprisings in that
year.
     Although many of her colleagues were imprisoned, and others killed in the pro-democracy
demonstrations in 1988 or subsequent imprisonment, Suu Kyi said she would not have
changed what she did as a leader of the movement to return Burma to democracy.
     "I don't think so," she said when asked if she would have done anything different. "Under
the circumstances I probably would have done what I did."
     "I don't think I could have stopped that," she said. "I think those who were put in prison and
killed would have been anyway."
     Suu Kyi said she saw a role for the military in a future Burma because every group had a
right to be represented. But she said any role for the military must be acceptable to the
people.
     She denied talk that she had become more conciliatory toward the military, but said talks
with them were necessary.
     "I've always asked for dialogue, but they considered that confrontation," she said. "If they
really have the best interests of the nation in mind they should be more conciliatory, they
should be willing to make some moves."
     Suu Kyi has great support from the Burmese people, who have been flocking to her house
by the hundreds every day to see and hear their hero speak.
     She said she appreciated the support the crowds gave her, and said she would continue
to talk to them to make sure she understands what they want in a future democratic Burma.
     Suu Kyi, whose British husband and two sons live in England, said her family has suffered
for her ideals.
     "They support me but I think they have paid a price for all of this," she said. "It was difficult.
Not so much for me, but because I thought of my children."
     "My biggest concern was what is happening to my sons, how are they coping? I was
hoping they wouldn't need me."
     Her husband, academic Michael Aris, is to fly out to Burma to visit in the next few weeks,
along with their youngest son.
     Suu Kyi said she survived her six years of detention by imposing strict self-discipline.
     "I kept a strict timetable, partly because I thought self-discipline was very important and
partly because I didn't want to waste my time."
     She said she spent her time in detention meditating, reading books, studying religion,
listening to international news in English and Burmese and doing various household
activities.
     "I didn't think of it as my prison," she said. "It's my home."
  REUTER