'No bargain', says Suu Kyi

US president dismisses Burma poll as "stolen"

11/11/2010

NEWS AGENCIES and BANGKOK POST

RANGOON: Burma's icon of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, will not accept conditions on her freedom if the military government releases her this week when her latest period of detention is due to end, her lawyer says.

The charismatic and influential figurehead of Burma's fight for democracy might be a potent threat to the ruling military but it stands to gain diplomatic points by freeing her.

Ms Suu Kyi voiced opposition to Burma's first election in 20 years, held on Sunday and easily won, as expected, by a party set up by the military. She has called on her loyalists to expose electoral fraud, her lawyer, Nyan Win, said.

US President Barack Obama dismissed the election as "stolen" while China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lauded it as "peaceful and successful", and "illustrating strengthening ties" between energy-hungry China and its resource-rich neighbour. Burma's other neighbours and partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had urged it to make the election "fair and inclusive" and to release Ms Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners before the vote.

While that did not happen, there is speculation she might be freed from house arrest on Saturday, when a sentence imposed last year for the violation of a security law is due to end.

"Aung San Suu Kyi must be released on or before November 13 because it is the day when the house arrest on her expires," lawyer Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), said.

"The release must also be unconditional because she will not accept a limited release. As we all know, she never accepted limited freedom in the past."

When released from a six-year stint of house arrest in 1995, Ms Suu Kyi was not allowed to leave the city of Rangoon.

That led to confrontations as she tried to travel to meet supporters.

Authorities have not said if Ms Suu Kyi, daughter of the hero of Burma's campaign for independence from Britain, would be freed or not. She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years.

Releasing Ms Suu Kyi, who has backed moves to isolate the regime, carries risks for the military as it seeks legitimacy for the election and for a new government.

The military is guaranteed a quarter of all seats in the newly elected assemblies and the winning party is packed with former military men who gave up their uniforms to stand.

Ms Suu Kyi is still believed to have the same mesmerising influence over the public that helped her NLD win the last election in 1990 in a landslide, a result the military ignored.

She could draw big crowds to the gates of her crumbling lakeside home in Rangoon and with a few words could rob the election of any shred of legitimacy it might have.

Ms Suu Kyi's NLD was officially disbanded for not taking part in the polls but she had urged her members to watch how the voting went, Nyan Win said.

"She had told NLD leaders to watch over Sunday's elections and expose malpractice and fraud," he said.

"Following her instructions, we are taking care of it now."

While highly unlikely she would call for street protests, her freedom could embolden those who might throng to see her.

Releasing Ms Suu Kyi carries risks for the military, but not freeing her would disappoint Burma's Asean partners, some of whom are frustrated with the Western criticism it draws to their region as the bloc strives to build economic ties.

Freeing her would also lend weight to the arguments of those who say Western sanctions on Burma have failed, and left open opportunities for investment in the resource-rich country to The likes of China, Thailand and India.