Is Suu Kyi Trying to Get the Message Out?

Neighbors of the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said a new message appeared last month on a large outdoor signboard in her compound, saying, “All martyrs must finish their mission.” 

The message appeared on July 19, Burma’s Martyr Day. The signboard, about 10 X 4-feet, is located on Suu Kyi’s property and can be read from the street in front of her home, where she has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.

File photo shows a poster of Burma's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi outside the headquarters of the National League for Democracy in Rangoon. The party’s office was told on Tuesday by military authorities to prepare for a meeting with the UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari. (Photo: AFP)

A neighbor who asked not to be identified said the Nobel Peace Prize winner frequently changes the signboard message, using it as a way to communicate with the public.

Suu Kyi is expected to receive a visit this week by UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari, who is in the country for a five-day visit to try to move the military government toward more concrete steps to national reconciliation. Observers hope she will release a new public statement through Gambari.

In addition, Suu Kyi recently received visits from her family doctor and her lawyer.

Kyi Win, a lawyer who met with Suu Kyi twice in ten days, told The Irrawaddy he went to her home on University Avenue on Sunday morning, and they discussed technical legal issues surrounding her house arrest.

“I also met with her on August 8,” he said. “She talked about several issues related to her house arrest. She was well and in good spirits.”

Among the issues discussed was the exact nature of the law the junta used to detain her under house arrest. She asked her attorney to research Act 10/B to determine if it was lawful.

She also asked him to look into the freedom of movement restrictions that are placed on two women who live with Suu Kyi in the compound. She noted that they have not been charged or convicted of any offense and to restrict their movement is illegal, her lawyer said.

Burma analysts and the international community would like to hear more from Suu Kyi, who has been largely silent following the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. 

In November, she sent a message to the world through Gambari about the meetings that had taken place between her and the junta’s laison officer, Minister Maj-Gen Aung Kyi.

“I expect that this phase of preliminary consultations will conclude soon so that a meaningful and time bound dialogue with the SPDC leadership can start as early as possible,” she said in the statement.

She said that "in the interest of the nation” she was ready to cooperate with the military in order to make progress in reconciliation efforts and she welcomed the necessary good offices role of the United Nations to facilitate talks between her and the junta.

While noting that she is leader of the National League for Democracy, she said national reconciliation must include discussions with a broad spectrum of society.

“It is my duty to give constant and serious considerations to the interests and opinions of as broad a range of political organizations and forces as possible, in particular those of our ethnic nationality races,” she said.

Perhaps as a result of Gambari’s role in releasing her public message, he faced criticism from the junta and was denied meetings with senior generals and the junta’s leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe when he returned in March.

He was relegated to meetings with Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Foreign Minister Nyan Win and Culture Minister Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint.

 Kyaw Hsan told Gambari the regime was uncomfortable with Suu Kyi’s public statement, according to The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper.

“Sadly, you went beyond your mandate,” he said, according to sources familiar with the meeting. “Some even believe that you prepared the statement in advance and released it after coordinating with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Kyaw Hsan accused the UN envoy of trying to “frame a pattern [message] desired by Western countries.”

Win Min, a Burmese political observer in Thailand, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, “Gambari won’t dare to take Suu Kyi’s statement again. He experienced the generals’ anger during his last trip in March.”