Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi rallies supporters
“If my people are not free, how can you say I’m free? We are not free. Either we are all free together or we are all not free together,” Aung San Suu Kyi told her supporters today.
Burma’s democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, told thousands of wildly cheering supporters earlier today that her fight for human rights was not over.
More than five thousand supporters gathered to hear her speak publicly after being released from seven years’ house arrest.
Suu Kyi said she bore no grudge against those who had held her in detention for more than 15 of the last 21 years – during which time her husband died.
She swept into the small compound of the National League for Democracy (NLD) political party to wild cheers of “We love Suu” and thunderous applause.
“Like I’ve said before, I’d like to ask people to let us know what’s on their mind,” Suu Kyi said.
Inside the party’s headquarters, she met with Yangon-based diplomats including the UK ambassador in Myanmar Andrew Heyn, and called for face-to-face talks with the junta’s leader.
“I would say that we should speak to each other directly” she said, referring to the leader of the country Senior General Than Shwe.
Suu Kyi spoke about working towards national reconciliation, thanking her well-wishers and asked them to pray for those still imprisoned by the regime.
Later on she was scheduled to attend the funeral of a close friend and pay a customary visit to the city’s sacred Shwedagon pagoda.
In her first public appearance on Saturday evening, Suu Kyi indicated she would continue with her political activity but did not specify whether she would challenge the military with mass rallies and other activities that led to her earlier detentions.
Her release came just days after an election that was swept by the ruling junta’s proxy political party and decried by Western nations as a sham designed to perpetuate authoritarian control.
Many observers have questioned whether it was timed by the junta to distract the world’s attention from the election.
It is also unlikely that the ruling generals will allow Suu Kyi, who drew huge crowds of supporters during her few periods of freedom, to actively and publicly pursue her goal of bringing democracy to Myanmar.