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Myanmar's government released pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi after more than seven years of house arrest, offering a glimmer of hope for opposition groups that have been trying to unseat the country's harsh military regime for decades.
Ms. Suu Kyi's release isn't likely to trigger major political change in Myanmar, an impoverished but strategically important Southeast Asian nation with extensive natural gas reserves between China and India. Despite being one of the world's most famous political prisoners, Ms. Suu Kyi's position has weakened considerably in recent years as Myanmar's ruling junta has fortified its financial and military strength through expanded ties with China and other Asian allies.
But freedom from house arrest gives the 65-year-old Nobel laureate at least one more shot at revitalizing the country's demoralized and divided opposition before she loses the energy to do so. It also could lead to renewed international pressure on Myanmar to contemplate reforms aimed at repairing its tattered relations with the Western world, including steps to release other political prisoners.
Speculation of a possible release had been building for weeks, mainly because Ms. Suu Kyi's latest term under house arrest was due to expire on Saturday. At around 4 p.m., authorities removed the barricades from in front of her lakeside villa in Yangon and entered to read a release order to Ms. Suu Kyi, as hundreds of supporters gathered nearby. Soon after she appeared at the gate of her compound and spoke briefly to the crowd, which by then had grown to several thousand people and was singing the country's national anthem, the Associated Press reported.
"If we work in unity, we will achieve our goal. We have a lot of things to do,'' she said, the AP reported.
The Myanmar government made a brief reference to Ms. Suu Kyi's release during a late-evening broadcast on a state news channel. The report said Ms. Suu Kyi had been set free by order of the government and that her release came with no conditions. It showed the chief of police visiting her in her home and expressing approval of her good health. It wasn't immediately known whether the government issued any additional statements.
An eyewitness said Ms. Suu Kyi also told followers that they could meet her at the headquarters of her political organization, the National League for Democracy, on Sunday, and then returned back into her home along with several of her political allies.
The decision to release Ms. Suu Kyi came just days after Myanmar's government held a disputed national election on Nov. 7 that appeared to cement the military's control, with a government-backed organization known as the Union Solidarity and Development Party dominating the polls. Although the regime hasn't released full results, state media said the USDP secured a majority in both houses of the country's new Parliament, winning roughly 85% of the seats whose results were released.
Dissidents and Western observers derided the election, Myanmar's first in 20 years, as a sham, with widespread reports of voting irregularities. But the vote was quickly endorsed by neighbors such as China and Vietnam, and the Myanmar government has said it was free and fair.
In releasing Ms. Suu Kyi, the regime appears to be gambling that the public relations benefits will outweigh any potential downsides from her well-known ability to rally supporters. Top generals called the recent election in large part to boost their legitimacy in the eyes of local citizens and the outside world, analysts say, and the junta may believe that freeing Ms. Suu Kyi will placate critics who have long called for her release along with 2,100 other political prisoners tracked by human rights groups.
International activists and political leaders offered guarded praise for Saturday's move. U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement that he welcomed the decision to release Ms. Suu Kyi, who he called a "hero," but he said it "does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes." British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed Ms. Suu Kyi in a statement, describing her as "an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights."
Burma Campaign UK, an activist group, said in a statement that it "welcomed" Ms. Suu Kyi's release but that it "should not be interpreted as a sign that democratic reform is on the way," and was "designed to get positive publicity" after "the blatant rigging of elections on 7th November."
Myanmar's government may also hope that freeing Ms. Suu Kyi will lead Western nations to reconsider economic sanctions they imposed on Myanmar over the past decade, largely in protest of Ms. Suu Kyi's detention, though analysts say that is unlikely given the level of distrust between the two sides. U.S. and other Western officials had insisted the regime release Ms. Suu Kyi before the polls instead of after, when her ability to influence the country's political dyanmic would be reduced. Many analysts fear the government may simply arrest her again if she creates trouble.
With the election is finished, Myanmar's generals "just seem really self-confident" in their grip on power, says Sean Turnell, a Myanmar expert at Macquarie University in Australia.
For Ms. Suu Kyi, the release ends years of isolation in which she had minimal contact with friends and family. She passed the time by reading books and listening to shortwave radios. She was not allowed to have phones or Internet in her home.
But release also brings daunting challenges. One will be rebuilding her political party, the National League for Democracy, which was disbanded by the government earlier this year when it refused to participate in the polls. Many of its former leaders are now in their 70s and 80s.
Ms. Suu Kyi will also have to forge a peace with a handful of rival opposition groups, including some that have counseled more cooperation with the regime, that moved in to fill the gap once the NLD was shut down.
The daughter of a national hero who helped secure Myanmar's independence from British rule in the 1940s, Ms. Suu Kyi emerged as a political force in the late 1980s, as the country formerly known as Burma reeled from years of disastrous economic policies and government crackdowns after a military takeover in 1962. Myanmar has long suffered from one of the lowest standards of living in Asia, with crumbling infrastructure and widespread reports of torture and other human rights abuses. Many residents, eager for an alternative, were enthralled by Ms. Suu Kyi's calls for Western-style democracy.
Ms. Suu Kyi quickly aroused the ire of top generals, though, and they placed her under house arrest in 1989. Her political organization went on to win Myanmar's last national election in 1990, but the regime ignored the results.
Although the government eventually released her, it repeatedly put her back under detention, holding her for 15 of the past 21 years. She was last detained in 2003, after a pro-government mob attacked her entourage and killed many of her followers during a tour of northern Myanmar. Authorities extended her detention another 18 months in August 2009 after she violated her house arrest by sheltering an uninvited American who swam to visit her earlier in the year.
A lot has changed since Ms. Suu Kyi last walked free in 2003 that could make her efforts to rebuild the opposition more difficult. In past years, she was the undisputed leader of Myanmar's dissident movement, which exerted significant influence in Washington and other Western capitals.
The military government, meanwhile, was struggling after years of economic problems intensified by sanctions, which led multinational companies such as PepsiCo Inc. to cut their ties with the country.
More recently, the regime's position has strengthened considerably. Its decision to disband the NLD, Ms. Suu Kyi's party, allowed other opposition groups – especially those that take a more moderate line against the government – to emerge. Some opposition leaders who won seats in last Sunday's election may be unwilling to support Ms. Suu Kyi if she publicy denounces the vote, since doing so could jeopardize their standing in the new parliament.
The regime has also greatly expanded its trade and investment ties with China, Thailand and other Asian countries, which covet Myanmar's vast natural resources and are pouring billions of dollars into new ports, gas pipelines, mining projects and hydroelectricity facilities, helping the junta overcome sanctions. The country has been running a large trade surplus in recent years and now has an estimated $6 billion in foreign reserves.
Ms. Suu Kyi is "in a far more restricted place than she was" when she was last free, says David Mathieson, a Thailand-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. Over the past seven years, the government has "gotten stronger, while they've weakened her party."
Some analysts have cautioned against underestimating Ms. Suu Kyi, though. She has repeatedly found a way to undermine and embarrass the regime despite her limited financial and political resources. She remains by far the most popular political figure in the country.
While other opposition groups participated in Sunday's election, Ms. Suu Kyi "is the only person who can do anything here," said one Yangon resident, a chauffeur, when asked about her possible release earlier this week.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners noted that more than 2,200 political prisoners continue to be held in Myanmar and released a statement, "Unlike Nelson Mandela's release from prison, the door to freedom will not be opened wide with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release, indeed, it will not even be opened a crack."
One woman, a 30-year-old relief worker, said on Saturday that she had begun to feel "hopeless" as the day wore on, without any news of Ms. Suu Kyi's release. But when Ms. Suu Kyi emerged, she felt "happier than I can say," she said. "We feel empowered by her."
Another Yangon resident, a 66-year-old retired government employee, was more reserved about the news. "This is the news everyone always wanted to hear," he said. "But there are challenges for her, and of course, for all of us."
Ms. Suu Kyi's release isn't likely to trigger major political change in Myanmar, an impoverished but strategically important Southeast Asian nation with extensive natural gas reserves between China and India. Despite being one of the world's most famous political prisoners, Ms. Suu Kyi's position has weakened considerably in recent years as Myanmar's ruling junta has fortified its financial and military strength through expanded ties with China and other Asian allies.
But freedom from house arrest gives the 65-year-old Nobel laureate at least one more shot at revitalizing the country's demoralized and divided opposition before she loses the energy to do so. It also could lead to renewed international pressure on Myanmar to contemplate reforms aimed at repairing its tattered relations with the Western world, including steps to release other political prisoners.
Speculation of a possible release had been building for weeks, mainly because Ms. Suu Kyi's latest term under house arrest was due to expire on Saturday. At around 4 p.m., authorities removed the barricades from in front of her lakeside villa in Yangon and entered to read a release order to Ms. Suu Kyi, as hundreds of supporters gathered nearby. Soon after she appeared at the gate of her compound and spoke briefly to the crowd, which by then had grown to several thousand people and was singing the country's national anthem, the Associated Press reported.
"If we work in unity, we will achieve our goal. We have a lot of things to do,'' she said, the AP reported.
The Myanmar government made a brief reference to Ms. Suu Kyi's release during a late-evening broadcast on a state news channel. The report said Ms. Suu Kyi had been set free by order of the government and that her release came with no conditions. It showed the chief of police visiting her in her home and expressing approval of her good health. It wasn't immediately known whether the government issued any additional statements.
An eyewitness said Ms. Suu Kyi also told followers that they could meet her at the headquarters of her political organization, the National League for Democracy, on Sunday, and then returned back into her home along with several of her political allies.
The decision to release Ms. Suu Kyi came just days after Myanmar's government held a disputed national election on Nov. 7 that appeared to cement the military's control, with a government-backed organization known as the Union Solidarity and Development Party dominating the polls. Although the regime hasn't released full results, state media said the USDP secured a majority in both houses of the country's new Parliament, winning roughly 85% of the seats whose results were released.
Dissidents and Western observers derided the election, Myanmar's first in 20 years, as a sham, with widespread reports of voting irregularities. But the vote was quickly endorsed by neighbors such as China and Vietnam, and the Myanmar government has said it was free and fair.
In releasing Ms. Suu Kyi, the regime appears to be gambling that the public relations benefits will outweigh any potential downsides from her well-known ability to rally supporters. Top generals called the recent election in large part to boost their legitimacy in the eyes of local citizens and the outside world, analysts say, and the junta may believe that freeing Ms. Suu Kyi will placate critics who have long called for her release along with 2,100 other political prisoners tracked by human rights groups.
International activists and political leaders offered guarded praise for Saturday's move. U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement that he welcomed the decision to release Ms. Suu Kyi, who he called a "hero," but he said it "does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes." British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed Ms. Suu Kyi in a statement, describing her as "an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights."
Burma Campaign UK, an activist group, said in a statement that it "welcomed" Ms. Suu Kyi's release but that it "should not be interpreted as a sign that democratic reform is on the way," and was "designed to get positive publicity" after "the blatant rigging of elections on 7th November."
Myanmar's government may also hope that freeing Ms. Suu Kyi will lead Western nations to reconsider economic sanctions they imposed on Myanmar over the past decade, largely in protest of Ms. Suu Kyi's detention, though analysts say that is unlikely given the level of distrust between the two sides. U.S. and other Western officials had insisted the regime release Ms. Suu Kyi before the polls instead of after, when her ability to influence the country's political dyanmic would be reduced. Many analysts fear the government may simply arrest her again if she creates trouble.
With the election is finished, Myanmar's generals "just seem really self-confident" in their grip on power, says Sean Turnell, a Myanmar expert at Macquarie University in Australia.
For Ms. Suu Kyi, the release ends years of isolation in which she had minimal contact with friends and family. She passed the time by reading books and listening to shortwave radios. She was not allowed to have phones or Internet in her home.
But release also brings daunting challenges. One will be rebuilding her political party, the National League for Democracy, which was disbanded by the government earlier this year when it refused to participate in the polls. Many of its former leaders are now in their 70s and 80s.
Ms. Suu Kyi will also have to forge a peace with a handful of rival opposition groups, including some that have counseled more cooperation with the regime, that moved in to fill the gap once the NLD was shut down.
The daughter of a national hero who helped secure Myanmar's independence from British rule in the 1940s, Ms. Suu Kyi emerged as a political force in the late 1980s, as the country formerly known as Burma reeled from years of disastrous economic policies and government crackdowns after a military takeover in 1962. Myanmar has long suffered from one of the lowest standards of living in Asia, with crumbling infrastructure and widespread reports of torture and other human rights abuses. Many residents, eager for an alternative, were enthralled by Ms. Suu Kyi's calls for Western-style democracy.
Ms. Suu Kyi quickly aroused the ire of top generals, though, and they placed her under house arrest in 1989. Her political organization went on to win Myanmar's last national election in 1990, but the regime ignored the results.
Although the government eventually released her, it repeatedly put her back under detention, holding her for 15 of the past 21 years. She was last detained in 2003, after a pro-government mob attacked her entourage and killed many of her followers during a tour of northern Myanmar. Authorities extended her detention another 18 months in August 2009 after she violated her house arrest by sheltering an uninvited American who swam to visit her earlier in the year.
A lot has changed since Ms. Suu Kyi last walked free in 2003 that could make her efforts to rebuild the opposition more difficult. In past years, she was the undisputed leader of Myanmar's dissident movement, which exerted significant influence in Washington and other Western capitals.
The military government, meanwhile, was struggling after years of economic problems intensified by sanctions, which led multinational companies such as PepsiCo Inc. to cut their ties with the country.
More recently, the regime's position has strengthened considerably. Its decision to disband the NLD, Ms. Suu Kyi's party, allowed other opposition groups – especially those that take a more moderate line against the government – to emerge. Some opposition leaders who won seats in last Sunday's election may be unwilling to support Ms. Suu Kyi if she publicy denounces the vote, since doing so could jeopardize their standing in the new parliament.
The regime has also greatly expanded its trade and investment ties with China, Thailand and other Asian countries, which covet Myanmar's vast natural resources and are pouring billions of dollars into new ports, gas pipelines, mining projects and hydroelectricity facilities, helping the junta overcome sanctions. The country has been running a large trade surplus in recent years and now has an estimated $6 billion in foreign reserves.
Ms. Suu Kyi is "in a far more restricted place than she was" when she was last free, says David Mathieson, a Thailand-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. Over the past seven years, the government has "gotten stronger, while they've weakened her party."
Some analysts have cautioned against underestimating Ms. Suu Kyi, though. She has repeatedly found a way to undermine and embarrass the regime despite her limited financial and political resources. She remains by far the most popular political figure in the country.
While other opposition groups participated in Sunday's election, Ms. Suu Kyi "is the only person who can do anything here," said one Yangon resident, a chauffeur, when asked about her possible release earlier this week.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners noted that more than 2,200 political prisoners continue to be held in Myanmar and released a statement, "Unlike Nelson Mandela's release from prison, the door to freedom will not be opened wide with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release, indeed, it will not even be opened a crack."
One woman, a 30-year-old relief worker, said on Saturday that she had begun to feel "hopeless" as the day wore on, without any news of Ms. Suu Kyi's release. But when Ms. Suu Kyi emerged, she felt "happier than I can say," she said. "We feel empowered by her."
Another Yangon resident, a 66-year-old retired government employee, was more reserved about the news. "This is the news everyone always wanted to hear," he said. "But there are challenges for her, and of course, for all of us."
I have always been captivated by this woman. She projects such dignity and clearly has suffered for her cause.
As an aside, I note it is Australia's policy to call Burma as "Burma". This is notwithstanding the fact that the country is known as Myanmar to the United Nations. Can anyone reconcile this approach with that of Macedonia?
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