Burma’s Suu Kyi tells followers not to give up hope

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged thousands of her supporters not to give up hope, a day after her release from house arrest.

“There is no reason to lose heart,” she told a crowd outside the headquarters of her political party in Rangoon.
Ms Suu Kyi was released by the military when her sentence ended on Saturday.
World leaders and human rights groups have welcomed her release. She had spent 15 of the last 21 years either under house arrest or in prison.
US President Barack Obama welcomed her release as “long overdue”, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Ms Suu Kyi was an “inspiration”, and urged Burma to free its 2,200 political prisoners. Her release came six days after Burma held its first elections in 20 years, which was won by the biggest military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), but widely condemned as a sham.
Ms Suu Kyi’s now-disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) won the last election in 1990, but was never allowed to take power. She has been under house arrest or in prison almost continually ever since.
On Saturday, lawyers said no conditions had been placed on her freedom. But it is not yet clear what political role she will be able to play.
The ruling junta has restricted her travel and freedom to associate during previous brief spells of liberty, and demanded she quit politics.

‘Treated well’ 

Ms Suu Kyi was mobbed by her supporters as she made her way for the first time since her release from her house to the NLD’s offices.
First, she met party members and foreign diplomats, and then addressed a crowd of about 4,000 people. People chanted “We love Suu”, amid thunderous applause.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner said freedom of speech was the basis of democracy, but warned her followers that if they wanted change they would have to go about getting it in the right way.
“We must work together,” she told them. “We Burmese tend to believe in fate, but if we want change we have to do it ourselves.”
She pledged to continue her work “with all democratic forces” towards national reconciliation, and had no ill-feelings towards those who detained her.
“They treated me well. I only wish they treated the people in the same way,” she said, adding that she had listened to media broadcasts for up to six hours a day.
And, in a veiled reference to last week’s election, told the crowd: “Nothing can be achieved without the speelautomaten participation of the people.”
The 65-year-old reportedly spent much of Saturday evening discussing the future of the NLD, which was officially disbanded after it boycotted the election, and she urged people to tell the party what they wanted.  
“Please let us know what you are thinking, what is on your mind. I would like to know over the last six years what changes have taken place in the people and what they are thinking,” she said.
“Please do not give up hope. There is no reason to lose heart,” she added. “Even if you are not political, politics will come to you.”
When asked at a later news conference about the future of the NLD, Ms Suu Kyi said she had not founded it “just as a party”.
“I did not found the National League for Democracy just as a party. I founded it as a movement for democracy, an organisation for change. As long as the people want democracy in Burma the organisation will exist.”
“We are trying to achieve it as quickly as possible, but I do not know how long it will take to get democracy.”
She said her message to Senior General Than Shwe was: “Let’s speak to each other directly.”
She also said she was willing to talk to Western nations about lifting sanctions on Burma, which she previously supported.
“If the people really want sanctions to be lifted, I will consider it,” she said. “This is the time that Burma needs help.”
The BBC is banned from reporting in Burma, but a correspondent in Rangoon says there was no obvious security presence around the NLD’s offices, but government agents in plain clothes seemed to be competing with journalists to get the best pictures of faces in the crowd.
For now, the authorities are letting things run their course, but it is unclear how long this will last and how much will they tolerate, she adds.

---