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Suu Kyi says confident of democracy
- Subject: Suu Kyi says confident of democracy
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 17:58:00
Suu Kyi says confident of democracy coming to Burma
06:41 a.m. Sep 04, 1997 Eastern
By Deborah Charles
BANGKOK, Sept 4 (Reuter) - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
said she is confident democracy will come to Burma and that repressive
tactics by the military rulers show they are worried about the
opposition.
Suu Kyi made the comments in a videotaped interview, a copy of which
taken out of Rangoon and obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
The Nobel Peace laureate said continued arrests of members of her
National League for Democracy (NLD) party and restrictions placed on her
own movements showed the leaders of the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) feared the NLD.
``I'm not under arrest again but my movements are quite restricted, and
the movements of those who wish to come and see me are quite
restricted,'' she said in the interview.
It was taped at the house of one of her colleagues because the
journalist was not allowed through barricades in the street blocking
access to Suu Kyi's home.
``So it's quite obvious that the SLORC is very nervous about what the
NLD is capable of doing,'' she said. ``If they were not nervous about
the strength of the NLD they don't need to enforce these restrictions.
``Our access to the people has always been blocked by SLORC,'' she said.
``We have won a lot of sympathy ...I think the people have begun to
realise more and more this cannot go on.''
Suu Kyi, released from six years of house arrest in July 1995, has been
under strict supervision since last December following large street
demonstrations against the government.
The SLORC has blocked access to her home since September and prevented
her from holding weekend speeches outside her home.
But Suu Kyi, who said she was ``fighting fit'' after being ill and
unable to keep up with her normal workload, said she still thought
democracy would prevail eventually and dialogue with the government
would happen one day.
``I am a cautious optimist,'' she said. ``I know that dialogue is
inevitable because that is the only way in which problems are solved in
the end.''
She said conversations between top NLD officials and SLORC generals in
July did not constitute dialogue because she was not included. ``At best
we can think of it as a sounding out to see whether dialogue was
possible between NLD and the SLORC.''
She said she kept pressing her struggle for democracy because of the
``people for whom I care, people I want to see happy.'' She said her
party would help facilitate the return of democracy but could not do it
alone.
``I alone cannot bring them democracy, nor can the NLD by itself.
They've all got to participate. I believe that people want democracy and
because of that we shall get democracy.
``I would like to think of the NLD as helping the people achieve what
they want rather than dragging them along to our common goal.''
Suu Kyi said current economic problems in Burma like rising prices,
could cause a more intense push for political change.
``Economics and politics are interminably connected,'' she said. ``If
the government is unable to cope with the economy there is bound to be
push for political change,'' she said.
The NLD, co-founded by Suu Kyi in 1988, won a landslide victory in 1990
elections which went unrecognised by the SLORC. MORE .