“I want to meet and talk with him [Than Shwe] directly. It would be very good if I could discuss with him whatever issues I care about.”
by Wai Moe
(November 15, Rangoon, Sri Lanka Guardian) During a press conference held at her party headquarters on Sunday afternoon—her first since being released from house arrest on Saturday—Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for a meeting with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe to promote national reconciliation.
According to journalists attending the press conference, held at the office of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Suu Kyi said: “I want to meet and talk with him [Than Shwe] directly. It would be very good if I could discuss with him whatever issues I care about.”
Suu Kyi's press conference comment about meeting with Than Shwe followed a public speech to her followers during which she expressed confidence that national reconciliation was the solution to Burma’s political crisis.
Suu Kyi previously met with Than Shwe in 1994 and 2002, each time while she was under house arrest. According to former intelligence officials who were at the meetings, the first consisted of a good deal of conversation between the two leaders, while at the second there were fewer exchanges and the event seemed to be a junta public relations exercise.
A counter-intelligence officer who defected to the US in 2005, Maj Aung Lynn Htut, said he expects that dealing with Than Shwe will be a difficult challenge for Suu Kyi.
“She must be careful how she approaches Gen Than Shwe and the military, and also how she leads the people,” he said. “And she needs to be secure.”
Some of the hundreds of local and foreign journalists journalists who attended the press conference said it consisted of a question and answer session bout 30 minutes long.
“The press conference started with a question about the NLD’s legal status as a political party,” said a reporter at the press conference. “Suu Kyi said the NLD is still a legal party, adding that as long as the NLD is still in the people’s hearts, it is relevant.”
In answer to a question about the lifting of economic sanctions against Burma by the United States and other western countries, Suu Kyi said she will consider the issue if the people request and have solid evidence that lifting sanctions would be helpful.
With respect to her own personal security following her release, Suu Kyi said that along with the more than 50 million other Burmese citizens, her security is the authorities’ responsibility.
She seemed to be careful in her comments on China, declining to confirm that China is stealing Burma’s natural resources when a reporter raised the issue. “We cannot say that [China is stealing Burma’s natural resources],” journalists quoted Suu Kyi as responding.
Regarding the issue of Burma’s ethnic minorities, Suu Kyi told reporters that she would like to call for a second multi-ethnic Panglong Conference that is fit for 21st century concerns. The Panglong Conference was held in 1947 by Burmese politicians and ethnic leaders in an attempt to unite in their struggle for independence from Great Britain.
When a reporter asked whether she would travel to Depayin once again, Suu Kyi said she would, but only at the right time.
Depayin, Sagaing Division in northern Burma is infamous as the place where Suu Kyi and her supporters were ambushed in May 2003 by thugs who were members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association. More than one hundred of her supporters were reportedly killed in the attack and she was placed under house arrest shortly thereafter.
Told that her public speech and press conference answers would not be allowed to be printed in local journals, Suu Kyi laughed and said that it seemed nothing had changed after the election.
After viewing the increasing public support Suu Kyi seems to be receiving following her release after seven and one-half years of detention, observers expressed concern that the junta, which normally dislikes large opposition crowds, may target Suu Kyi for assassination once again.
Others, however, were skeptical that the regime would attempt to kill Suu Kyi.
“I think she could be put under house arrest again. Regarding assassination, I do not think they [the junta] would be that daring again,” said a senior official in Naypyidaw who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On the possibility of dialogue between Suu Kyi and the military, the official said: “She is not their [the generals’] enemy. But she should not ride on her father's name when approaching them, just come as herself.”
Suu Kyi’s father, Aung San, was the founder of the current Burmese armed forces. He was assassinated in July 1947.
Suu Kyi also reported at the press conference that, contrary to news reports, her son Kim Aris had not yet received a Burmese visa.
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