Daw Aung San Suu Kyi: West should act together

The Yomiuri Shimbun

These are excerpts of an interview with Aung San Suu Kyi held by The Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday.

The Yomiuri Shimbun: You said it’s best to have a dialogue with the military government. Have you made a formal request to meet with them?

Aung San Suu Kyi: No, not yet.

Q: And if you have a chance to meet with Gen. Than Shwe, what’ll your message be?

A: I don’t think it’s right to say what I’m going to say to him in an interview before I even meet him.

Q: You haven’t made any plans to meet him?

A: No, as I said already. I’ve not even mentioned this or persuaded them to see us.

Q: Some National League for Democracy (NLD) members left to form the National Democratic Force (NDF) and some other political parties that participated in the election. What do you think about their decision to contest the election?

A: That’s their decision. I think you’ve got to ask them why they made the decision. It’s not for us to comment on why they made this decision. We certainly think that it’s their right to decide what they want to do, and it’s not our decision.

Q: You don’t have any ill feeling against them?

A: It’s their right to decide what they want to do.

Q: What’s your plan to reconcile with them?

A: We’ve invited those political groups and individuals interested in cooperating with us to come and see us. We keep the door open for them to contact us, and some of them have made contact with us already.

Q: You said you would like to form a democratic network. Can you elaborate on this?

A: I think I did speak about it in some detail. What I mean is for the people all over the country and all over the world to be engaged in the movement to bring democracy and human rights to Burma, and this network would include social and humanitarian issues as well as political ones.

Q: How about the second Panglong Conference, have you made any contact with ethnic groups?

A: It was the ethnic nationalities who drew up the proposal for the second Panglong Conference, so obviously after this, I’ll contact them. They were the ones who drew up the proposal.

Q: The high court declined to hear your case on whether dissolving the NLD was legal or not. How will you continue the NLD as a political party?

A: We’re going to appeal that decision because we did nothing that isn’t right under the law.

Q: You’re going to launch another petition?

A: We’re going to contest the decision because we do nothing that isn’t correct according to the law.

Q: You’re going to continue the NLD as a political party?

A: Of course.

Q: About the economic sanctions by the West, you mentioned ordinary people will suffer. What’s your advice to Japan and Western countries?

A: I’ve not said ordinary people will be suffering from sanctions, but what I said was that if the people feel, and if the people are justified in feeling that sanctions are hurting them, then we’ll review the situation.

Q: What should Western countries and Japan should do to help Myanmar achieve democracy, in your opinion?

A: I think they should be more aware of the problems within this country, and I think for the help, [what we need] most of all is their coordinated effort.

Q: Are you interested in using the Internet and mobile phones as a method of communication?

A: Of course, I’m interested in using the Internet. I’ve made an application to link up to the Internet. Whether that application will be got or not, I do not know.
(Nov. 26, 2010)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/T101125003264.htm