CBC REPORT: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, speaking to supporters a day after she was released from years of house arrest, said she will continue to fight for human rights and the rule of law in military-ruled Burma.Aung San Suu Kyi is surrounded as supporters gather to hear her speak outside the National League for Democracy party headquarters in Rangoon. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
She also called for face-to-face talks with the junta's leader. She last met with Gen. Than Shwe in secret talks in 2002 at the urging of the United Nations.
However, the measured tone of her remarks on Sunday indicated she is well aware she is walking a tightrope in balancing the expectations of the country's democracy movement and the realities of limited freedom under a tough military regime.
Speaking in Rangoon to a crowd of more than 5,000 people at the dilapidated headquarters of her political party, the 65-year-old 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner urged her followers to work for national reconciliation in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
"If we want to get what we want, we have to do it in the right way; otherwise we will not achieve our goal, however noble or correct it may be," she said.
Suu Kyi spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention without trial because of her opposition to military rule. She was allowed to leave her lakeside residence Saturday after a term lasting 7½ years.
She insisted she felt "no antagonism" toward those who kept her under house arrest and that she was "well treated."
But she called on the military junta that has ruled Burma for 48 years to "treat the people well also." Suu Kyi said the "basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech" and urged supporters to "stand up for what is right."
She ended her speech by saying one woman's expression is not democracy. "We must walk together," she told the crowd.Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/14/suu-kyi-burma.html#ixzz15HzUkaqb
She also called for face-to-face talks with the junta's leader. She last met with Gen. Than Shwe in secret talks in 2002 at the urging of the United Nations.
However, the measured tone of her remarks on Sunday indicated she is well aware she is walking a tightrope in balancing the expectations of the country's democracy movement and the realities of limited freedom under a tough military regime.
Speaking in Rangoon to a crowd of more than 5,000 people at the dilapidated headquarters of her political party, the 65-year-old 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner urged her followers to work for national reconciliation in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
"If we want to get what we want, we have to do it in the right way; otherwise we will not achieve our goal, however noble or correct it may be," she said.
Suu Kyi spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention without trial because of her opposition to military rule. She was allowed to leave her lakeside residence Saturday after a term lasting 7½ years.
She insisted she felt "no antagonism" toward those who kept her under house arrest and that she was "well treated."
But she called on the military junta that has ruled Burma for 48 years to "treat the people well also." Suu Kyi said the "basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech" and urged supporters to "stand up for what is right."
She ended her speech by saying one woman's expression is not democracy. "We must walk together," she told the crowd.Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/14/suu-kyi-burma.html#ixzz15HzUkaqb
Comments