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Aung San Suu Kyi Warns Release is Not Evidence of Political Freedom

   Kate Woodsome | Washington, D.C. 18 November 2010
   Pro-democracy  leader Aung San Suu Kyi pauses during an interview with
   the Associated Press, 18 Nov. 2010

Photo: AP

   Pro-democracy  leader Aung San Suu Kyi pauses during an interview with
   the  Associated  Press  as a portrait of her father, independence hero
   Gen.  Aung San, hangs on the wall at the National League for Democracy
   headquarters in Rangoon, Burma, 18, Nov. 2010.

   Nobel  Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has wasted little time slipping
   back  into her role as Burma's most outspoken democracy activist since
   being released from house arrest last week.

   In  her  first  week  of  freedom,  Aung  San  Suu  Kyi has called for
   reconciliation  talks  with military leader General Than Shwe. But she
   said  in  an  interview  with  the  Associated Press Thursday that the
   government has not contacted her.
   Some  analysts  have  suggested  Burma's  military  rulers  freed  the
   opposition  leader  for public relations purposes, to lend credibility
   to  recent  elections and a civilian-led parliament. In her interview,
   Aung  San  Suu  Kyi  declined to speculate why the military government
   permitted her release.
   "I don't think there was any other reason for releasing me rather than
   one  the legal term of detention had come to an end, and there were no
   immediate means of extending it," she said.
   Aung  San  Suu  Kyi  called  her  house  arrest  illegal.  Still,  the
   65-year-old  said  she  does  not regret staying in Burma, rather than
   avoiding detention by going to England to be with her family.
   "I  made a choice, and when I made the choice, I knew that there would
   be  problems,"  she  said.  "If you make a choice, then you have to be
   prepared  to  accept  the  consequences.  I  think  I believe a lot in
   accountability and a sense of responsibility."
   Aung  San  Suu Kyi chose to to take up the democracy struggle in 1988,
   when  mass  demonstrations  broke  out against nearly three decades of
   military  rule.  As  the  daughter of Burma's independence leader from
   Britain,  Aung  San  Suu  Kyi  was  quickly seen as being one with the
   people, and democracy activists adopted her as their leader.
   A  year  later,  the  military  detained her, and kept her under house
   arrest  until  1995. She chose to stay in Burma for fear she would not
   be let back in. She was detained again in 2003.
   By  choosing  the  role of democracy activist, she gave up the role of
   mother.  In her interview Thursday, Aung San Suu Kyi reflected on that
   decision.
   "My  sons  are  very good to me. They haven't done very well after the
   breaking  up of the family, especially after their father died because
   Michael was a very good father," she said.
   Despite  the  personal  challenges, Aung San Suu Kyi said she will not
   change her political agenda.
   "I'd better go on living until we have a democratic Burma," she said.
   Since  her  release, Aung San Suu Kyi has been careful not to call for
   an  overthrow  of  the government, but she has also not wavered in her
   demand for a change.