Reuters, By Aung Hla Tun, YANGON | Sun Nov 14, 2010 3:45am EST
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| Aung San Suu Kyi holds a sign reading ''I love the public too'' while addressing supporters outside her National League for Democracy party headquarters in Yangon November 14, 2010. (Credit: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun) |
(Reuters) - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for freedom of speech in army-ruled Myanmar on Sunday and urged thousands of supporters to stand up for their rights and not lose heart, indicating she might pursue a political role.
"The basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech," she said in her first major address since being freed from seven years of house arrest a day earlier. "Even if you are not political, politics will come to you."
The 65-year-old Nobel peace laureate had lost none of her ability to rouse and mesmerize crowds and offered an olive branch to the military junta, saying she had no antagonism for those who kept her detained for 15 of the past 21 years.
The address, given in an informal style in contrast to usual stuffy military speeches that dominate state media, illustrated the strength of Suu Kyi's pro-democracy voice at a critical time, just a week after an election widely condemned as rigged to prolong military power under a democratic facade.
"You have to stand up for what is right," Suu Kyi added, urging supporters to be more politically assertive in the former British colony formerly known as Burma, where the army controls nearly every facet of life. "A one woman show is not a democracy."
Later, speaking with reporters, she declined to comment directly on whether she would urge the West to roll back sanctions that many say hurt ordinary people by allowing the junta to monopolize the country's resource-rich economy.
"If people really want sanctions to be lifted, I will consider this," she said. "This is the time Burma needs help. We ask everyone to help us. Western nations. Eastern nations. The whole world...it all starts with dialogue."
Diplomats expect Suu Kyi to work with the West to lift the sanctions she once supported but which are now seen by many as contributing to chronic economic problems in the country of 50 million people where a third of the population live in poverty.
She spoke outside the headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, standing on a chair, after wading through a sea of supporters, her hair bound with flowers in Burmese style and dressed in blue blouse and traditional wrap-around longyi.
At times, she joked with the crowd. "I know I said I wanted to hear what the public is thinking, but now that there are so many voices and so much noise, I don't know what is being said anymore," she said to a roar of laughter and applause.
"NATIONAL LEADER"
State media said she was given a "pardon" after "she was found to be displaying good conduct" ahead of the expiry of her arrest term on Saturday. It quoted a police chief as telling her the junta was "ready to give her whatever help she needs."
She is expected to rebuild her party, which scored a landslide election victory in 1990 which the junta ignored, but other pro-democracy parties looked forward to her leadership and she told the crowd she would work with other democratic forces.
"She belongs to the entire nation," said Khin Maung Swe, leader of the National Democratic Force, a party led by renegade members of Suu Kyi's party. "We consider her a national leader and she does not belong to any single group or party."
The NLD, Myanmar's strongest democratic force, was dissolved by the military in September for failing to register for an election it dismissed as unfair and unjust. The party has since been declared an "unlawful association" and will play no official role in Myanmar's new political system.
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"It's sort of a cautious joy, because though she's out in the world, ...
she's perhaps more vulnerable," Bono told CNN.
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