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ABC RADIO NATIONAL (6/6/96): LIVE I



Subject: ABC RADIO NATIONAL (6/6/96): LIVE INTERVIEW WITH ASSK

/* Written Sat 8 Jun 6:00am 1996 by DRUNOO@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
/* ---------" ABC Radio National: Live interview with ASSK "---------- */
/* NB: AN UN-OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT */

LIVE INTERVIEW WITH AUNG SAN SUU KYI
BROADCASTED BY
ABC RADIO NATIONAL, AUSTRALIA, AM-729, 10:15PM (6-JUNE-1996)

ANNCR:
Our next guset is right up there with Ghandi, Martin Luther King and
Mandela; I speak, of course, of Aung San Suu Kyi, secretary general of the
National League for Democracy and Burma's most famous dissident.
It just under a year since she was release from six long yearS of house
arrest,  now that release was supposed to be unconditional, but her
movement remains severely restricted.  Of course for years, the military
demanded that she leaves the country forever - that was going to be the
condition of the release. But her resolve to stay in the country and try to
bring democracy to the country remains firm. Not that it is likely to happen
over night. The military junta, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, SLORC - wonderful name - remains firmly entrenched, possibly a
little more so than when they first incarcerated Suu kyi because of despite
being immensely unpopular within burma, the regime has been [...] by the
fairly high level of foreign investment in the country, the sort of
investment energeticelly endorsed, regrettably, by our austere prime
minister Bob hawke. As ASEAN nations are thinking of including Burma into
their association; and the countries like u.s. and Australia, despite
denouncing the regime and speaking very highly of our guest , do nothing of
discouraging the investment in that mineral rich land. Now last night
report by Pilger, John Pilger, revealled the widespread use of slave labour
by Slorc, to built their road, the rialiways and their [...] business and
tourist hotels. Imprisonment without trial for dissidents remains, and,
there is brutal harrassment   of minority groups. So things are croocked.
And the person who people hoped to bring to democracy to Burma, Aung San
Suu Kyi, joins me now from her tapped-phone-line in Rangoon. Suu Kyi, it is
great pleasure to speak with you to night. the situation does seems bleak.
Slorc is, I believe, threatening you to put back under house arrest. Do you
feel that the National League is failing in its attempt.

ASSK: I don't know why you called it bleak. It has been quite clear
from what happened in the last two week that   we have widespread support
of the people of burma, that our movement is strong, and we have many people
who are commited to democracy. So I do not see that the picture as bleak at
all. And I am afraid I can't agree with you about all the investment coming
into Burma. Economists and people who have been studying business situation in
burma have said that the economy started stagnating at the end of 1994. And
that is no longer such an attractive place for would-be investors.

ANNCR: What kind of dialogue are you hoping to achieve, with the slorc,
 given that the response so far have been to ignored the overture made by
your National League ?

ASSK: The aim of dialogue is to find common ground, to find an answer that
will be best for the country, that will be acceptable to all political
forces concerned. So we have put no pre-condition, we've set no
pre-condition. We are prepare to talk about anything that will lead to
national reconciliation and a better situation for our people.

ANNCR: there are some time ambiguous signals from the Slorc, there was for
instance  a recent editorials in the last couple of days which described as
you are appropriate [...] ? Are you seeing some sign of movement from their
side ?

ASSK: As I understand, that article was not written by anybody in SLORC.
It was written by a member of a political group. And I do not think he
represent the views of slorc.

ANNCR: So its clutching a straws to read, to read too much into that.

ASSK: Well, of course, it is interesting that the [.....] who print that
article, as I understand it, the author of the article, which he has been
circulating, whether they could put it in the news paper. So it is
interesting that they wanted to print it.

ANNCR: Lets look at the slave labour - apparently is commonplace within
Burma, in terms of people known to have support you and the persecution of
the minority groups like the Karens. There is a lot of anger within the
Burmese populous. Do you believe that there will be more uprising and
demonstriations, at the magnitude of 88/89. Indeed do you think it would be
wise to have that?

ASSK: I hope that there will be no more of uprisings the kind that happened
in 1988, that because the people who suffer as a result. But ofcourse, I am
not an astrologer, I do not believe that can fortell the future. So I can
not say for sure what will happen and what will not happen. But it is true
that people are suffering a lot from the forced labour, and that the people
of the country  where there is no rule of law suffer from all kinds of
frustrations and resentments.

ANNCR: Suu Kyi, is the regime completely impervious to the vast outpouring
of support for you and criticism of them from the outside world ?

ASSK: I don't think it is impervious to all that criticism. Otherwise it
would not have been so annoyed about it.

ANNCR: Yes. What's an interesting response, but the annoyence is not
thus far, expressed in terms of the movement towards reconciliation ?

ASSK: I think it is in general very very difficult for an authoritarian
regime to budged from the position they have  taken, especially
for authoritarian military regime, I think, there is a certain rigidity in
their outlook. So I do not think you've got to expect immediate
response to whatever happens. I think it takes time for  the situation to
really [...] in.

ANNCR: Of course you know quite a lot about military mind. Your father,
considered the father of modern Burma, was himself general; that he saw
the risk of military gaining too much power.

ASSK: I am not sure that I know that much about military mind. But I do know
a lot of military people. Of course my father and many of my colleagues in
the NLd, the Chairman U Aung Shwe, the Deputy Chairman U Tin Oo and U Kyi
Maung and the Secretary U Lwin. They are all ex-military officers, but,
they are all the kind of people that you would call the officer and
gentleman. So let us say that I know one kind of military mind, that of
those are both officers and gentleman.

ANNCR: Is there within, is Slorc utterly monolithic ? or
is it possible to detect within in it, .. suttleties .. perheps ...
factions ... some of those might be more amenable to your arguments.

ASSK: We believe that people are individuals. And looking from our point of
view, we do not see slorc as monolithic. We think there must be individuals
within Slorc, with the independently way of thinking. But it is possible
that they all think that their interest lie in one direction. And perhaps
that does limit the way in which it you think.

ANNCR: NOw, you return to Burma in 88 to look after your mother. Until then
you live a happy and a comparatively comfortable life, your academic
husband and two kids. Do you have any sense that in 88 what is going to
happen to your life ? Were you infact, consciously preparing yourself,
staying in Burma and leading the democracy movement ?

ASSK: No, when I came to Burma in April 1988, I have prepared myself for
a long stay looking after my sick mother. Because, although I knew that she
was very ill, we do not quite know for how long there is going to go on
for, whether she get better of whether it will be just long drawnout
process of dying. So I was prepare to stay on in Burma for many many
months. But I certainly do not think that there going to be a democracy
movement.

ANNCR: Now, of course, on your return you faced death quite literally.
Given the magnitude of the task, with the great personal danger, did you
ever consider, just, surrenderering into leaving Burma and giving up the
struggle ?

ASSK: No, of course not. Because, I am not the only person in the struggle,
there are others with me. I have friends, I have colleagues, who are very
honorable and who have suffered much more than I have and who have made
great sacrifices, I would never think of abandoning them.

ANNCR: Now you gave to your first democracy speech, in front of-it was
immense-  some half million people. In August 88. Why did you decided to
give speech then,  why choose that moment. What was the factor in
considerations ?

ASSK: This is the time when the whole country was in [momentum]. The people
of Burma had decided that they want to change. We were, there were a group of
us who are trying to  to make sure that tremendous outpouring of the energy
was channelled in to the positive direction, in a positive way. So it is
just part of our asset to channel all this energy, in the positive way.

ANNCR: Now you are under house arrest from 89 to until last year. Now
mandela's time in prison wasn't exactly wasted - it was very productive
time in many ways. Were your years of incarceration comparably fruitful ?

ASSK: Well, I was only in the detention for six years. So I cannot claim
that I achieve as much as mr mandela did because he was under the detention
for 27(years).  But I think of those years as very  fruitful, yes.

ANNCR: What would you do during those years, Suu Kyi.

ASSK: Well, I followed very strict time table; self discipline was very
important. I thought that if i have to live for alone for years and years,
I did not know for how long I would be kept under house arrest, I better
start learning to live with myself. So I follow a strict time table
everyday; meditations are very important; and regular exercise; a lot or
reading; a lot listening to the radio - that my only contact with the
outside world.

ANNCR: What could you read ? Do you allowed to read whatever you wish or
did house arrest involve the censorship of your reading material ?

ASSK: Not exactly. My husband at one time was allowed to send me books.
I don't think they kept like any except an issue of the time magazine
which my photograph on the cover.

ANNCR: Probably no great loss, I guess. The Your approach to slorc clearly
echo or, resemble, the Ghandi's non-violent civil unrest policy. How much
does the Ghandi influence you ?

ASSK: I don't think Ghandi has influenced my practical politics to that
extent. I think he has influenced me spritually, if you like. But what we
are doing here now in Burma, we do as political party, as a political
organization. The National League for Democracy is a legal political
organization, a democratic party and we take our decision as a democratic
party. So I am simply implementing the policy of a party.

ANNCR: And what about Buddhism. How important is Buddhism to you ?

ASSK: It is very important. As I mentioned just now, meditation means a
great deal to me  during my years under house arrest. Buddhist meditation,
I think is very important, because it teaches you some awareness
and the self discipline.

ANNCR: Now in those years some would argue, some believe that the
organization you have - the National League for Democracy -  was inevitably
weakened. It is now strong enough now to exert real significant pressure on
Slorc?

ASSK: We would like to think that we get stronger and stronger by the day.
It is difficult to assess exactly what are the strengths at the moment. I
think one can never tell, except for retrospect, how strong one is at a
particular period.

ANNCR: I don't want to dwell on this, but here have been great discussion
here to day about the scale of masscre in Burma. What do you believe the
death tall was in during the military crackdown ?

ASSK: I believe it was in four figures. But I cannot say exactly what the
numbers were. Because we have not been given a chance to collect a data.

ANNCR: Now, I'm told that your name, which is beautiful to say, but even
more beautiful in translation that it to mean a bright collection of strange
victories.  Are your parents obviously prescient ?

ASSK: Well, I think, I don't know whether they were thinking of the meaning
of name I suppose. Aung San is my father's name, but it just is not my Sir
name. In Burma we don't have family names. My name is pretty unusual.
Because there is man's name, Aung San is a much mascular name at the
beginning; and Kyi at the end is part of my mother's name; Suu in between
represent my grandmother's name, and also represent the day of week on
which I was born.

ANNCR: Well, of course, your birthday is rapidly approaching. I understand
that we should be singing happy birthday to you on the June the 19th.

ASSK: (laugh) I didn't realized that you knew my birthday.

ANNCR: Oh no. We know a great deal about you out here. You've got great
numbers of fans and supporters. What can we usefully do here in Australia
to help your cause, Suu Kyi ?

ASSK: We really want the world to be aware of what has been going on in
Burma, and to think of us, not just as a something in the news but as people,
there are people in Burma who are suffering, who are struggling for
democracy. Our main strength in the country, inside, is the support of our
people people here. But we are great believers in the international
community. Because the time has past thet we can afford to live isolated.
We do believe in the no man in island are unto himself - No nation in the
island are into itself.

ANNCR: I am looking for some guidence from you. Do you wishes to continue
to oppose the investment from our country ? Take the issue of tourism. The
junta is announced this is the year of tourism. You surely would not want to
encourage that.

ASSK: We are certainly not supporting the "Visit Myanmar 1996", which it
begin only on the 18th of November. Apparently it is supposed to go
on until the end of the tourist season, which will be somewhere around the
April 1997. Certainly we do not want to support that and we would like
the international community to demonstrate the solidarity with our struggle
by not supporting the "Visit Myanmar 1996".

ANNCR: Well, I think all the listeners to this program here by make the
promise of the fact that standing up all over Australia, with hand on
hearts. Now, let me ask .....

ASSK: (laughs) You can't see them(the listeners) doing that. Can you ?

ANNCR: Well - er - actually, I hope they are, Suu kyi, I hope they are. Now
what about your children ? Contact with them possible ?

ASSK: I do speak to my younger son who is at home quite regularly. The
other one is at the university. So the contact is not so easy. My husband
and younger son were at home ring up every week.

ANNCR: Of course, every time you pick up the phone, you be aware that
others are listening.

ASSK: Oh Yes. That this isn't worried me. that doesn't worry my family either.

ANNCR: It just like having [...] extended family, I guess.

ASSK: Well, lets just put it as extended family. I do not look upon them as
[...]  It would be really nice, really nice, friendly family.

ANNCR: Well, look, happy birtyday for the 19th and I am much grateful for
your time.

ASSK: Not at all, thank you for your good wishes.

ANNCR: YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE LNL(Late Night LIve), ON THE RADIO NATIONAL.

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