Suu Kyi Meets Regime's Liaison Minister

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi had a 45-minute meeting on Wednesday with the regime's specially appointed Relations Minister, Aung Kyi, at a government guesthouse near her home, Rangoon-based wire news agencies reported, quoting officials.

The reports, carried by AP and AFP, gave no details on the previously unannounced meeting.

Members of the National League for Democracy show portraits of Aung San Suu Kyi to visitors as they sell them outside the party's headquarters during to mark the 89th anniversary of the country's National Day in November. (Photo: AP)

Aung Kyi was appointed liaison officer between Suu Kyi and the Burmese government in 2007. The two have met twice in October this year.

Wednesday's meeting followed the dispatch of two letters from Suu Kyi to junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe expressing willingness to cooperate with the government in the national interest and with the aim of ending Western sanctions against Burma.

The state-run media on Tuesday criticized Suu Kyi and her party, the National Leagues for Democracy (NLD), for making public the text of her letters to  Than Shwe.

“The leak of Aung San Suu Kyi's letters to the media before they were received by the leader of the government is intended to damage the image of the ruling government, and this might delay the processes of the other side [the military government],” said an article carried by state-run newspapers.

The two letters were sent by Suu Kyi to Than Shwe on Sept 28 and Nov 11. In the first letter, Suu Kyi said she wanted to cooperate with the military government to achieve an end to sanctions by the US and other Western countries. In the second letter, she said she was willing to cooperate with the government in the national interest.

The article in the state media also also faulted Suu Kyi's offer to cooperate with the government to get economic sanctions lifted.

“She is the one who called for sanctions,” the article said. “Instead of clearly stating her position on sanctions, her offer of wishing to cooperate with the government only when the United States announced to practice both sanctions and direct engagement shows her inconsistent nature.”
 
NLD spokesman Khin Maung Swe said the criticism was not necessarily an official government reaction to the letters. “This is merely opinion of a columnist, not the official response,” he said. “Yet I understand this would never have come to press without the approval of some government officials.”

 Khin Maung Swe described the article's accusations as cynical.  Suu Kyi and her party's central executive members did not intend to leak the text of the letters, which anyway contained nothing negative, he said.

According to inquiries by The Irrawaddy, Suu Kyi's letters came into the possession of  some young party members before reaching the NLD central executive members. They were asked to photocopy them, and the copies were secretly sent to foreign broadcasting stations.

An initial investigation into the leak was subsequently suspended on Suu Kyi's orders in order not to cause confusion within the party.

Than Shwe has no wish to talk to Suu Kyi, according to Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst. “For Snr-Gen. Than Shwe,  Aung San Suu Kyi is not included in his political roadmap,” he told The Irrawaddy.

Rumors have been circulating in Rangoon that Suu Kyi maybe released before long. The speculation was fueled by the acceptance last month of a plea by Suu Kyi's lawyers to lodge an appeal against her current sentence of 18 months house arrest.