Burma’s president meets Suu Kyi, people cautious
Burma’s Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, met President Thein Sein on Friday, a source in Naypyitaw (New Capital) said. It was said to be the first meeting between the two. Some optimists think this latest meeting as the first signs that it may make way for conciliation talks between the military-backed new government and the key opposition figure.
The key opposition party leader, Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years in custody under the former military junta for confrontation of democracy, arrived in Naypyitaw today to meet President Thein Sein, an ex-general in the military regime.\
The two met at the presidential palace, an official from the Information Ministry informed, who wishes to remain anonymous. The official did not elaborate on what was discussed. The meeting took place between 4 and 5 pm, according to Khun Thar Myint, one of Suu Kyi’s spokespersons.
Burma’s democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, made an appeal on 28 July for political talk and an urgent ceasefire between major ethnic rebel groups – Kachin Independence Organization, Karen National Union, New Mon State Party, Shan State Army – and the government troops.
In her open letter dispatched to the country’s new President Thein Sein, Suu Kyi offered to act as a mediator between the government and the ethnic rebels, and said that the continuous fighting has been damaging the national reconciliation which is so important for the nation that is composed mainly of ethnic populations.
Some analysts consider Thein Sein, who took office on March 30, as a soft-liner in the new government which was surrounded by hardliners opposed to talk with Suu Kyi. The relation between Suu Kyi and the military has long been freezing, except the new government’s engagement with Labour Minister Aung Kyi.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi released a statement dated June 20 calling for both the government and the KIO to stop heavy fighting immediately in order to protect people’s lives and properties. It also called for peaceful talks between stakeholders to settle the decade-long political crisis of the country.
Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, center, talks to reporters during her visit to a pagoda along with her youngest son Kim Aris, standing behind her, in Myanmar's ancient historic city of Bagan, Myanmar, Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Pic: AP.
In December 2010, Burmese junta’s two mouthpiece newspapers criticized dissident politicians who support Aung San Suu Kyi’s national reconciliation plan. Burma’s military rulers dismissed the actions of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who tried to revive the spirit of the Panglong Agreement by providing self-reliance to ethnic nationalities, as a “cheap political stunt”.
Burma’s 64-year-old Panglong Agreement has been disregarded by successive Burmese regimes, including the current President Thein Sein government. The Panglong Agreement was signed on Feb. 12, 1947, between General Aung San and leaders of the Chin, Kachin and Shan ethnic groups guaranteeing a genuine federal union of Burma.
Next week, Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, will revisit the country after being banned for more than a year. Quintana last visited Burma in February 2010 but was not allowed to meet the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest at that time. In this imminent trip, Quintana will meet Burma’s Nobel laureate, who was freed from seven years of house arrest soon after the country’s controversial election in November last year.
On August 12, Kyan Hsan, Information Minister of the Thein Sein government, led the first press conference in Naypyitaw. During the press panel, Kyaw Hsan said that even though the NLD is an unlawful party, the government has been managing that matter patiently.
Kyaw Hsan also said the government has been keenly observed to talk with Suu Kyi in accordance with President Thein Sein’s inaugural speech on March 30. He also urged the NLD to reregister as a party if they wished to take part in the affairs of state.
Currently, the NLD refuses to go under the 2008 constitution which has been disregarded by most ethnic armed groups including Kachin, Shan and Karen.
It is obvious that the problem of the 2008 constitution will be the toughest topic to talk about between President Thein Sein and opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi, apart from releasing political prisoners and stopping of ethnic wars.
Moreover, some observers are still doubtful that the meeting between Thein Sein and Suu Kyi might be a time buying tactic since the new government has been trying to gain the ASEAN chair ahead of political reforms.
