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A generation later, Suu Kyi's popularity continues to grow
Irrawaddy - October 29, 2010
When Aung San Suu Kyi recently expressed interest in setting up a Twitter account so she could communicate directly with the outside world, some young Burmese were impressed that the 65-year-old woman known to many simply as "Aunty Suu" even knew about the latest trend in Internet-based social networking.
Others, however, were mildly disappointed. In comments on their Facebook accounts and on exiled news websites like The Irrawaddy, they urged her to reconsider her choice and join Facebook, so they could "friend" her instead of just being her "followers."
For Suu Kyi, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention for her opposition to military rule in Burma, there will be many things to learn about the brave new world that awaits her if she is ever released. But for the generation that has grown up without ever setting eyes on her, there can be no doubt that she remains as relevant as ever as an icon of hope for a nation mired in political stagnation.
While some outside observers saw her calls for her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to boycott this year's election as a sign of how out of touch she has become with popular sentiment, many in the country said this view underestimated the depth of resentment towards the ruling regime, particularly among the young.
"She is more popular than ever because of her decision not to take part in the election," said the editor of a Rangoon-based weekly journal, speaking on condition of anonymity.
But Suu Kyi is not alone in commanding strong support from Burma's frustrated younger generation, many of whom see the coming election only as a promise of more of the same corruption and misrule they have known their entire lives.
A senior reporter who works for another local news journal said that his younger colleagues are "crazy about Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Ko Naing," referring to the imprisoned former student leader who rose to prominence during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising crushed by Burma's current rulers.
Few, however, can match Suu Kyi's stature among ordinary Burmese, who continue to look to her for the leadership the country needs to finds its way out of its political impasse.
"If you look on Facebook, everyone is talking about her," said Naing Naing, a 19-year-old resident of Rangoon who called Suu Kyi her "heroine," although she has never met her in person. "She is our hope." This is not to say that Suu Kyi doesn't have her critics, especially among those who wish she would take a more pragmatic approach to dealing with the regime and others she disagrees with.
Some observers said that the NLD's spat with the National Democratic Front (NDF), a party created by former senior members of the NLD to compete in the election, showed that Suu Kyi is still prone to taking uncompromising positions.
"Conflict between the NLD and the NDF is just a waste of energy," said the Rangoon-based editor. "What we need now is to concentrate on how to make use of all the opportunities presented to us."
However, he added that none of this diminished Suu Kyi's popularity, which is still a rallying point for younger voters who are looking for a way to vent their disgust with the regime and its proxy, the Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP).
Even Khin Maung Swe, one of the co-founders of the NDF, acknowledged that the Suu Kyi factor could ultimately outweigh the outcome of the election, which is expected to deliver an overwhelming victory to the USDP.
In a recent interview with The Irrawaddy, he said his party is willing to disband after the vote if that is what Suu Kyi wants – a statement that has reportedly angered those who hoped the creation of a new main opposition party would undermine Suu Kyi's position as the leader of Burma's pro-democracy movement, according to well-informed sources.
Meanwhile, any hopes that the regime will be able to use Suu Kyi as a pawn to win international recognition of the results of the election were shot down on Thursday, when US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley responded to suggestions that she might be released when her current sentence ends on Nov. 13, less than a week after the election.
"This is a craven manipulation by Burma. How convenient that they are hinting that she might be released after an election that is unlikely to be fair, free or credible," Crowley told reporters.
His remarks, which included a call for the release of all of Burma's estimated 2,100 political prisoners, came after Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that his Burmese counterpart did not deny that Suu Kyi was due to be freed in the coming weeks.
Natalegawa, who met Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win at the Asean Summit in Hanoi, said: "Our understanding is that the term of her sentence will be expiring in November. And that understanding was not disputed."
But even with Suu Kyi's sentence set to end within the next two weeks, her lawyers made their final appeal on Friday against the original court decision last year that added 18 months to the six years she had already spent in detention since May 2003.
It remains to be seen whether this legal action or the demands of the international community will make any difference to the ruling regime, which has repeatedly ignored its own laws and world opinion in the past.
If Suu Kyi is released, however, it will renew speculation about what role she might play in Burma's post-election landscape. Although she is barred from holding political office by the country's new Constitution, she could be allowed to act as a figurehead, following in the footsteps of her father, Aung San, who helped to reconcile ethnic minorities and Burman groups before the country attained independence in 1948.
This, of course, assumes that the new military-backed government trusts her not to upend the post-election order entirely – something that will depend on how confident the generals who now rule are in their handpicked successors' ability to remain in control of the situation.
But no matter how carefully the generals calculate the risks of giving Suu Kyi a formal role, or even of simply freeing her, her impact on Burma's volatile political environment remains almost completely unpredictable.
In a recent interview, Win Tin, one of Suu Kyi's closest colleagues in the NLD, said that her release "will be like a great rain. When the monsoon comes to Burma it brings the whole countryside to life. When she is released the Burmese people will be reawakened."
For the generals, however, this is probably not the image that comes to mind when they think of Suu Kyi's effect on the Burmese public.
"As long as Aung San Suu Kyi walks the streets of Burmese cities, she can mobilize public opinion against the regime," said Zarni, an exiled dissident and research fellow at the London School of Economics.
"They are afraid of her popular appeal. When you combine Aung San Suu Kyi and massive discontent, you've got a very explosive situation."
[Irrawaddy reporters in Rangoon contributed to this article.]
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