Burma’s Nobel laureate meets UEC chairman for party registration

By Zin Linn

Burma’s Nobel laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) Aung San Suu Kyi left Rangoon for Naypyitaw to visit Union Election Commission in order to carry out registration process of her political party. Suu Kyi together with U Tin Oo, U Nyan Win, U Han Thar Myint and Dr. Nge Nge have arrived at the Thin-ga-ha hotel in Naypyidaw this morning, as said by The Messager Journal.

At 10:10 am Friday, Suu Kyi and her associates met with UEC Chairman U Tin Aye and seven commission members, namely U Myint Naing, U Aung Myint, U Thar Oo, Dr. Daw Myint Kyi, U Win Kyi, U Nyunt Tin and U Win Ko.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) was given the green light from government last month to rejoin mainstream politics, paving the way for the Nobel laureate to run for a seat in the new parliament. The NLD was stripped of its status as a legal political party by the junta in 2010 after it chose to boycott the election, saying the rules were unfair.

NLD’s application to return to the political arena came days before the US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Burma visit on 30 November. Twenty-one senior members including Suu Kyi, Tin Oo and Win Tin made the submission in the capital Naypyitaw on 25 November.

The Union Election Commission allowed the formation of the NLD as the application to register was in accordance with the law, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on 13 December.

After signing papers as part of the NLD re-registration as a political party, Suu Kyi has met with parliament speakers, said a parliamentary official in the capital Naypyidaw. According to the latest news, U Khin Aung Myint, the Upper House Speaker, met Suu Kyi 1:15 pm today at the parliament. Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann, third-ranking general in the previous junta, also met the Nobel laureate from 1:35 to 2:35 pm according to parliamentary source. The details of the discussion topics were not released.

Both speakers welcomed the leader of key opposition party with open arms, the parliamentary source said.

The Nobel laureate was released a few days after the controversial 2010 November election, having spent much of the past two decades in custody, and she is now planning to play a part in the upcoming by-elections expected early April next year even though no voting date has been set.

Since coming to power in March, the new military-backed government dominated by former generals has made a series of reformist moves in an apparent attempt to reach out to political opponents and the West.

Suu Kyi expressed cautious hope earlier this month that democracy would come to Burma, as she welcomed Hillary Clinton to the home in Rangoon city that was her prison for years during a landmark visit by the US Secretary of State.

On 17 November, the NLD welcomed the approval of Burma’s bid to chair Southeast Asia’s regional bloc in 2014, saying it would boost political change in the inaccessible nation.

The NLD’s 18 November decision indicates that it has confidence in government’s recent political reforms by the military-backed government which has been under watch for suspicion due to exile political dissident groups.

Many democracy-supporters in the country and members of the National League for Democracy back up the idea of re-entering the NLD to play in the national politics.In its 18-November statement, the party said the “NLD has unanimously decided to re-register as a political party… and will run in the elections”.

The NLD won an election in 1990 by a landslide, while Suu Kyi remained under house arrest, but the ruling generals never allowed the party to take power.

Meanwhile, Aung Min, the government’s Railways Minister, hinted remaining political prisoners could be freed as early as next month, according to a participant in recent peace talks with the Karen National Union (KNU). The minister informed two specific dates when the releases would take place, the first on Jan 4, Burma’s Independence Day, and the second on February 12, the Union Day.

According to the National League for Democracy party’s list of political prisoners, the estimated number is 591. According to today press release of Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) AAPP, there are at least 1,572 individuals in Burma who have been arrested and sentenced on political grounds and are believed to currently be in prison.

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