Suu Kyi cautions against undue optimism
Wednesday, 16 May 2012 13:30
Radio Free Asia
Democratic reforms in Burma are not yet irreversible, the opposition leader says.
Aung
San Suu Kyi speaks at a press conference with South Korean President
Lee Myung-bak in Rangoon on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Photo: Mizzima
Burma’s
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi lamented on Tuesday that the
international community was becoming “too optimistic” about the reform
process in the country, cautioning against taking democratization for
granted.
She made the observation after talks with visiting South
Korean President Lee Myung-bak and in a video conference at the launch
of a freedom project in Washington by former U.S. president George W.
Bush.
“We are at a point in history when there is a possibility
for transition, but I do not think we can take it for granted that this
transition will come about,” the 66-year-old Nobel Laureate told
reporters after her meeting with Lee in Rangoon on Tuesday.
“The
intention is there and there is goodwill from all over the world, but we
have to make sure that we do not dissipate this goodwill,” she said.
The
opinions of the opposition leader, elected to parliament in April after
having spent most of the last two decades under house arrest, are
considered an important marker for the removal of long-running
international sanctions.
Lee, on the first trip to the country by
a South Korean leader in three decades, said his informal meeting with
the Nobel laureate was “as important, if not more so” than the official
purpose of his state visit, which included talks with Burmese President
Thein Sein in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday.
“I have sincere
hope that the people here in Burma … will live a much freer and better
life and I hope that Ms. Suu Kyi’s dream and aspirations to bring about a
democratic Burma will be realized as soon as possible,” he said.
SanctionsAung
San Suu Kyi said she had no objection to a U.S. proposal to suspend
sanctions on Burma, but cautioned against removing them altogether and
against placing too much confidence in reforms without further
commitment from Thein Sein’s government.
“I sometimes feel that
people are too optimistic about the scene in Burma,” she told the
conference in Washington, speaking via Skype at the launch of Bush’s new
“Freedom Collection” project.
“You have to remember that the
democratization process is not irreversible,” she added, noting that
reforms by the government would only be set once the powerful military
firmly committed to democratization.
She said sanctions, which
were imposed as a penalty for human rights abuses committed during
decades of rule under the previous military junta, could be a useful
tool for further encouraging needed reforms.
“I am not against
the suspension of sanctions as long as the people of the United States
feel that this is the right thing to do at the moment. I do advocate
caution, though,” she said. “I believe sanctions have been effective in
persuading the government to go for change,” she added.
The E.U.
suspended for a year all economic and trade sanctions on Burma in
April, save for an arms embargo. Canada later followed suit.
U.S.
President Barack Obama’s administration has engaged in dialogue with
Burma since reforms began last year, but the U.S. is retaining trade
restrictions and has yet to make clear what kind of investment it will
allow.
Suspending sanctions rather than removing them entirely is
“a way of sending a strong message that we will try to help the process
of democratization but if this is not maintained then we will have to
think of other ways of making sure that the aspiration of the people of
Burma for democracy is respected,” Aung San Suu Kyi said.
She
added that the government was continuing to hold some 300 political
prisoners, despite amnesties granted to prisoners over the past year as
part of a series of reforms by the government.
‘Cautious optimism’Lee
said he was optimistic that Burma could follow a path similar to South
Korea’s in achieving both industrialization and democratization.
“I
believe that this country is now entering into an era of change,” Lee
said. “I have high confidence that this wonderful country … is going to
be a true democracy,” he said.
In talks Monday with Thein Sein, the two sides had discussed Burma’s previous military links to North Korea.
“I
hope his government will refrain from engaging in any activities with
the DPRK [North Korea] that may be deemed to be considered as violating
various UN Security Council measures. Based upon that agreement, Korea
is prepared to cooperate more fully [with Burma],” Lee said.
Former
U.S. First Lady Laura Bush, who introduced Aung San Suu Kyi at the
Washington event and who has been a staunch supporter of the opposition
leader, said she was “cautiously optimistic” about Burma’s future.
“I think it looks like the first steps are being made,” Laura Bush said in an interview after the event.
“But
I want the people of Burma to know that the institutiona you have to
build for democracy take a long time,” she said, encouraging the people
of Burma to identify and communicate to other countries what kind of
international aid they would like to be given.
– Reported by Win Naing and Soe Min for RFA’s Burmese service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
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During
his year in office, 415 cases of human rights violations were committed
by the USDP-led government and its’ supporters, according to the human
rights group.