Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has finally been released from house arrest after 15 years. Although the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has gained her freedom for now, her future and that of Myanmar’s democratic movement remain shrouded in difficulties.
The junta released Aung San Suu Kyi partly because the term of her house arrest had ended, and also because the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, having gained a dubious victory in the Nov. 7 national elections, hopes to use her release to give legitimacy to the government that it will form, and to alleviate pressure from abroad.
However, Aung San Suu Kyi rejected the poll on the grounds of blatant manipulation by the junta, and she has not ruled out challenging the result through the courts. Now that she is free, Myanmar’s opposition forces are sure to rally anew. Possible outcomes include anything from the ouster of the government to the return of Aung San Suu Kyi to detention. Her release, then, signals only the calm before the storm.
Myanmar’s despotic rulers are so lacking in ability to govern that they habitually use force to make the Burmese submit to their rule. Any resistance is ruthlessly crushed. Wherever dissidents raise their voices, they may be deprived of their personal freedom or even killed.
The junta has held Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 of the last 21 years. It even took advantage of an American’s swim to her house to extend her detention by 18 months and thereby keep her out of the election. The junta wants to isolate Aung San Suu Kyi and prevent democratic forces from achieving the unity to enable them to effectively challenge the regime. In reality, however, the longer the junta kept Aung San Suu Kyi locked up, the more she was admired by Burmese and respected around the world. By imprisoning Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta locked itself out of the world community and isolated itself from its own people.
China is another example of an autocratic government that suppresses democrats and dissidents. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is to be awarded to jailed democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波). Beijing will not allow Liu or his wife, Liu Xia (劉霞), to attend next month’s award ceremony, just as Aung San Suu Kyi was prevented from attending when she won the prize in 1991.
However, China’s obstruction will not lessen the honor in any way. On the contrary, Liu’s absence from the ceremony will confirm the correctness of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s decision to give him the prize and justify his sacrifices.
Originally Liu was just one of many Chinese pro-democracy dissidents. He was neither the most important nor the most influential. Ironically, it was his arrest and imprisonment for initiating the Charter 08 democracy manifesto that focused attention on him at home and abroad.
Before the decision to give Liu the peace prize was announced, the Chinese government put pressure on the Norwegian committee not to award the prize to him. Once the announcement was made, Beijing blocked all news about it in China, and has pressurized EU leaders to skip the award ceremony. These moves will not silence calls for freedom and democracy in China. On the contrary, they will create a “Chinese Aung San Suu Kyi” and provide a new focus for China’s democracy movement.
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