Burmese opposition leader Suu Kyi raises hopes in political run
DAWEI, Burma — Euphoric seas of supporters waved opposition party flags and offered yellow garlands. They lined crumbling roads for miles and climbed atop trees, cars and roofs as Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at impromptu rallies. Some cried as her convoy passed.
Cheered by tens of thousands, the 66-year-old opposition leader electrified Burma’s repressive political landscape everywhere she traveled Sunday on her first political tour of the countryside since her party registered to run in a historic ballot that could see her elected to parliament.
“We will bring democracy to the country,” Suu Kyi said to roaring applause from the balcony of a National League for Democracy office in the southern coastal district of Dawei.
Suu Kyi’s campaign and byelections due April 1 are being watched closely by the international community, which sees the vote as a crucial test of whether the military-backed government is really committed to change.
The mere fact that Suu Kyi was able to speak openly in public in Dawei — and her supporters were able to greet her en masse without fear of reprisal — was proof of dramatic progress. Such scenes would have been unthinkable just a year ago, when the long-ruling junta was still in power and demonstrations were all but banned in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
After nearly half a century of iron-fisted military rule, a nominally civilian government took office last March.
The new government has surprised even some of its toughest critics by releasing hundreds of political prisoners, signing cease-fire deals with ethnic rebels, increasing media freedoms and easing censorship laws.
Suu Kyi’s party boycotted the 2010 election as neither free nor fair. Her party has been cleared to offer candidates in the April vote, and an Election Commission ruling on Suu Kyi’s candidacy is expected in February.
Suu Kyi spent 15 of the past 23 years under house arrest, and as a result, rarely traveled outside Rangoon. She was released from house arrest in late 2010, just days after the vote that installed the current government.
“People have been living in fear here,” said Lay Lay Myint, a grocery store manager. “Just seeing her (Suu Kyi) here makes us braver, more courageous.”