Myanmar’S Leading Light Courts Ex-Jailers

[sabaijai]

Myanmar’s leading light courts ex-jailers

Aung San Suu Kyi has dismayed colleagues with pro-army comments

March 9, 2013

International Herald Tribune

She endured years of house arrest and was steadfast as her political movement was harassed and her colleagues were tortured. But now, as the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate, is courting her former jailers.

As Myanmar sloughs off the legacy of five decades of brutal military dictatorship, the country is witnessing a political minuet between the army and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the human-rights champion turned politician who is fighting to keep her disordered political party relevant and her path to the presidency open.

Rattling even some of her own party members, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said recently that she was ‘‘very fond’’ of the military, a comment made as the army pounded ethnic minority fighters with artillery and air power.

‘‘Her new strategy is to win the favor of the army,’’ said U Kyi Win, a former lawyer who is a delegate to the party’s first national convention, which is taking place this weekend in Yangon in an attempt to infuse new blood and install better leadership in the party.

‘‘I don’t like the army,’’ said Mr. Kyi Win, who was imprisoned for six years and disbarred for his political activism during military rule. ‘‘But for the future of our country, we have to work with them.’’

‘‘We cannot have democracy without the involvement of the military,’’ he added.

But the courting of the military is not without cost. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has alienated ethnic minority groups, many of whom have battled with the military over the past five decades and who together make up one-third of the country’s population of about 55 million.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is from the majority Burman ethnic group, has angered representatives of minority groups by not meeting with them and being spare in her public comments about the military’s campaigns to vanquish ethnic armies. In January, she was quoted as saying that she could not be active in helping solve the conflict between Kachin rebels and the Myanmar Army because it was not the purview of her committee in Parliament.

During a visit to Hawaii, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said she had ‘‘often been criticized for saying that I’m fond of the Burmese Army, but I can’t help it — it’s the truth.’’

Although she is best known as a defender of human rights and a stalwart proponent of democracy, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi also has a very personal link to the military. Her father, U Aung San, who was assassinated when she was 2 years old, was the founder of the modern Burmese Army.

Nonetheless, ethnic leaders said they were stunned that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was allying herself with an army that kept her under house arrest for more than 15 years and is considered the chief oppressor and violator of human rights in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

‘‘Her mentality is not in the right place,’’ said Pu Zo Zam, the chairman and founder of the Chin National Party and a leading voice of the country’s minority groups. ‘‘She’s only thinking about becoming president of Burma. That’s her goal.’’

‘‘She was a national hero for us,’’ Mr. Zo Zam said. ‘‘Now she’s only talking on behalf of her party.’’

Party officials say Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi needs the army’s support to change a rule in the Constitution that bars anyone with a foreign spouse from becoming president. (Her late husband was British.)

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is 67 years old, said recently that she would be open to the job of the presidency ‘‘if that is what the people want.’’

Many see the next elections, scheduled for 2015, as possibly the last chance for her to run.

And there appears to be consensus among analysts that she would have a very strong chance of winning: Outside of ethnic minority areas, her popularity still verges on adoration.

But some party officials are visibly uneasy when explaining the new approach to the military.

‘‘It’s truly very risky,’’ said U Monywa Aung Shin, the head of the party’s division in Sagaing State in central Myanmar. ‘‘The people and party members are asking many questions about her strategy.’’

More outspoken than other members of the party, some of whom declined to discuss the issue, Mr. Monywa Aung Shin said the party had ‘‘no choice’’ but to seek accommodations with the military. But he spent 12 years in prison under military rule and winces when he talks about the ‘‘new strategy.’’ He said he was only ‘‘75 percent sure’’ that it was the best way forward.

There are also outright dissenters within the party.

U Win Tin, one of the party’s most senior members, said the army should ‘‘admit what they have done in the past.’’

‘‘I don’t accept the army’s leading role in politics,’’ he said.

Myanmar’s fledgling democracy is led by a civilian government, but the full picture is more complex. Under the Constitution, 25 percent of the seats in Parliament are reserved for the military. And since any change in the Constitution requires 75 percent of the votes, the military has effective veto power.

In addition, the military appoints the ministers of defense, interior and border regions. The army also controls vast business interests.

Burmese analysts are following this dichotomy of power like spectators at a high-stakes chess match, one move at a time.

‘‘Burmese politics is power politics,’’ said Min Min Oo, a member of the National League for Democracy from western Myanmar. ‘‘The role of the military is essential.’’

The context for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi today is that after years of persecution, her party is in disarray. Mr. Monywa Aung Shin called it a ‘‘ laughingstock.’’

The party lacks talented managers, is riven by infighting and factionalism, and is nearly broke — local offices are often asked to finance their own operations.

In recent months, the party has raised money for charitable causes from prominent businessmen who during the years of military rule were known as the ‘‘cronies’’ because they helped implement the junta’s projects in return for favors. The move raised eyebrows partly because Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi often talks about responsible investment.

But party officials say they are desperate.

‘‘For the time being, we need to accept help from anyone,’’ said Mr. Kyi Win, the lawyer and party member.