http://online.wsj.com/articles/suu-kyi-urges-u-s-to-keep-pressing-for-change-in-myanmar-1415198039
Suu Kyi Urges U.S. to Keep Pressing for Change in Myanmar
West Should Be Ready to Stiffen Policy If Progress Halts, Opposition Leader Says
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Myanmar's top opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, holds a new conference at her party’s headquarters, a week before world leaders gather in Myanmar for a summit. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By
Shibani Mahtani And
Myo Myo
Updated Nov. 5, 2014 12:14 p.m. ET
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YANGON, Myanmar—Opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi said the U.S. has been too optimistic about the depth of Myanmar’s transition away from military rule and that it should be ready to stiffen policy if progress toward democracy halts.
Speaking Wednesday at a news conference at her ramshackle party headquarters—the first she has hosted in more than a year—Ms. Suu Kyi challenged those who have celebrated President
Thein Sein ’s reform efforts to show “what significant reform steps have been taken” in recent months.
“I don’t think the reform process is going forward,” Ms. Suu Kyi said, and world leaders are “reconsidering their optimism.’’
Ms. Suu Kyi spoke a week before world leaders, including U.S. President
Barack Obama , will gather in Myanmar for a summit hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Mr. Obama called both Mr. Thein Sein and Ms. Suu Kyi last week and urged faster progress toward democracy.
Mr. Obama is under pressure from critics in Washington and human-rights groups to show in the meetings here that the U.S. retains leverage over Myanmar’s overhauls, launched in 2010 after the military that had ruled for decades began a transition to civilian rule but retained a key role in politics. Elections are due next year.
U.S. economic sanctions imposed during the military era have been steadily eased over the past two years to reward and encourage democratic progress, but key steps such as amending the constitution, which currently bars Ms. Suu Kyi from becoming president and enshrines a de facto veto by the military in the legislature, have stalled.
Meanwhile, a national cease-fire with armed rebel groups remains elusive despite a continuing peace process. Sectarian violence by majority Buddhists against minority Muslims has flared, and one minority group, the ethnic Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar, has fled the country by the tens of thousands or they remain in camps for displaced people due to persecution.
Ms. Suu Kyi’s affirmed that her National League for Democracy party would continue to campaign for changes to the constitution and chip away at the military’s hold on power.
The news conference came days after Ms. Suu Kyi took part in a high-profile meeting of political power brokers last week that included talks with the military’s commander-in-chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for the first time. The meeting also included parliament speaker Shwe Mann, who is a likely presidential contender next year.
Ms. Suu Kyi had been urging such talks for some time and acknowledged that simply holding them was important, but she described the outcome as inconsequential. Constitutional changes were discussed, but no specific clauses—including one barring her from becoming president because she has foreign sons—were mentioned, she said.
“The meeting last week should not be used as a way to avoid real negotiation,” she said.
Write to Shibani Mahtani at
shibani.mahtani@wsj.com
Interesting to see her making a power play.
Idiot Bangladeshi strikes again.
