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Myanmar's future in people's hands, says Suu Kyi

MOULMEIN (Myanmar) JULY 21. As once-forbidden political songs played, the Myanmarese Opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, told supporters on Sunday that only the people had the right to decide the fate of the military-run nation.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, on her second trip outside the capital since being released from house arrest in May, received a rousing welcome in this eastern Myanmar city. Military authorities, who once harassed her and jailed members of her National League for Democracy, did not appear to interfere with Ms. Suu Kyi's activities. "Whatever happens, the NLD will persevere in the building of a democratic system," she said. "Only the people have the right to decide the fate of a country. No one else should or must take the decision into their hands."

Ms. Suu Kyi spoke to some 500 supporters as she placed NLD signboards on a building in Moulmein that will become the party's local headquarters. The mood was festive, and NLD songs espousing democracy were played over loudspeakers. A party member said it was the first time the songs had been allowed to be played.

Some 3,000 clapping residents jammed Moulmein's main street when Ms. Suu Kyi arrived from the capital Yangon on Saturday after a 290-km road journey. Such large public gatherings are rare in Myanmar, also known as Burma, other than at rallies organised by the military, which has ruled for the past 40 years.

Ms. Suu Kyi's four-day trip shows the ruling junta's new willingness to allow her and her party some political freedom. "Our goal of democracy is within sight," said Kyi Lwin at the opening of the NLD office. Already in his 70s, the NLD official was released from a four-year prison term in 2001. After the ceremony, Ms. Suu Kyi left for three towns south of Moulmein.

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