Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi reached out to Myanmar’s splintered opposition forces yesterday, calling on thousands of exuberant supporters to unite following her release from house arrest.
“Please keep your energy for us. If we work together we will reach our goal,” she told a sea of followers outside her party headquarters, suggesting years of isolation have not weakened her defiant stance against military rule.
“I want to work with all democratic forces,” said the 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been locked up by Myanmar’s ruling generals for 15 of the past 21 years.
“I believe in human rights and I believe in the rule of law,” she added.
The daughter of the nation’s assassinated independence hero carries a weight of expectation among her supporters for a better future for the impoverished nation after almost half a century of military dictatorship.
The pro-democracy leader swept her party to victory in a 1990 election, but it was never allowed to take power.
She said she wanted to “hear the voice of the people” before deciding her course of action, following a controversial election a week ago in which the junta’s political proxies have claimed a landslide win.
The polls have been widely criticised as a sham and opposition parties have complained of cheating and voter intimidation by the regime-backed party.
“From what I have heard there are many many questions about the fairness of the election and there are many many allegations of vote rigging and so on,” she said in an interview with the BBC.
A committee by her National League for Democracy (NLD) party would investigate all the complaints and produce a report on the matter, she said.
She also appeared to soften her stance on the international sanctions that have isolated Myanmar, saying she wants to “talk to all the people concerned”.
Ms Suu Kyi was freed on Saturday after her latest seven-year stretch of detention, a move greeted with jubilation by her followers and welcomed by world leaders.
A huge crowd gathered outside the Yangon headquarters of the NLD for the speech and she initially struggled to make her way through the crush of people.
Supporters filled the street, some carrying banners saying “We love Suu”, causing a long traffic jam for several hours.
“She reminded us to continue the struggle for democracy,” said Gaw Si Tha, a 43-year-old monk.
“But I know it will be a tough journey. I do not know how long it will take. We have to do it step by step.”
Wearing a dark blue longyi – Myanmar’s sarong-like traditional dress – Suu Kyi said that she had been treated well during detention and had “no grudge” against the authorities.
She told a news conference after the speech that she was in favour of dialogue and “national reconciliation”.
Attention is focused on whether she can reunite the divided opposition after the election.
Ms Suu Kyi’s party boycotted the vote, a decision that deeply split the opposition. Some former members of her party bolted to stand in the poll, prompting accusations of betrayal from some of her closest associates.
But a leader of the breakaway party, the National Democratic Force, signalled it was ready to work with Ms Suu Kyi, describing her as “a torch of democracy for Myanmar.”
Although she has been sidelined and silenced by the junta for so long, many in the impoverished nation still see the democracy icon as their best chance for freedom.
Setting her free is a huge gamble for Myanmar’s generals, and observers see it as an attempt to tame criticism of the controversial November 7 election, the country’s first in 20 years.