The Hindu : Rescuing a Nobel laureate

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 11, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Rescuing a Nobel laureate

IT MUST BE reassuring to the worldwide supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi that the Nobel laureate and indomitable spirit behind the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar is safe. After a violent attack on her convoy in northern Myanmar, Ms. Suu Kyi and 18 members of her National League for Democracy were taken into "protective custody" for "their own safety" and kept incommunicado for more than 10 days by the military junta ruling the country. The United Nations special envoy, Razali Ismail, who was in Yangon to help kickstart a reconciliation process between the NLD and the military Government, was allowed to meet her nearly four days after his arrival and after persistent effort to persuade the junta. The inexplicable delay gave credence to rumours that Ms. Suu Kyi might have been injured in the clashes on May 30, engineered without doubt by hired goons. From Mr. Ismail's remarks after his meeting with her it is not certain that Ms. Suu Kyi received no injuries. If as the junta claims she was not injured, it would have served its purpose to allow the envoy to meet her as soon as possible and show her to the world. Its reluctance to allow the meeting and the assault on her and her party on the eve of the arrival of Mr. Ismail signal a return to the old ways of the junta, which has never been eager or willing to give up its stranglehold. One of the top junta leaders has blamed the League for Democracy for steering a course of confrontation. With its offices across the country shut down and its leadership in custody, there is now little prospect that the junta will honour its promise to return the country to democracy. The events of the past fortnight are a setback.

India's rather belated expression of concern for the freedom and welfare of Ms. Suu Kyi, when it should have given the lead to the rest of the world, reflects New Delhi's dilemma. After years of pursuing an enlightened policy of keeping its contacts with the repressive military government to the essential minimum, New Delhi was persuaded to opt for the Association of South East Asian Nations' more friendly and softer option of engaging the regime, on the doubtful logic that this would help bring about change. The decision coincided with the promise held out by the junta to release Ms. Suu Kyi from prolonged house arrest, hold discussions with her, restore her position as the elected leader of the country and introduce a measure of democratic reforms. A year of freedom for the Nobel laureate, during which she demonstrated her immense popularity, is apparently enough to scare the military men. With international attention focussed elsewhere, the junta felt emboldened to strike at her.

India, which had fully supported the democracy movement that yielded the 1990 election and a massive mandate for Ms. Suu Kyi, must mobilise world opinion to force the junta to return to the path of reconciliation. In the past year, New Delhi has sought to develop the relationship through greater trade and commerce and investment in Myanmar. The junta's latest act of repression must force a rethinking of that policy. Instead of being hoodwinked by the claim that the detention of Ms. Suu Kyi and the crackdown on the democracy movement are temporary, friends of the junta like members of the ASEAN should keep the regime out of international and regional gatherings besides boycotting multinational corporations that continue to have operations in Myanmar and help sustain the regime. Sanctions are of course no answer since only the people suffer. The regime has the population at its mercy and the freedom to run gulags. Its continued defiance of world opinion and refusal to release Ms. Suu Kyi immediately are a challenge to the international community.

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