Immediately upon being freed from house arrest, Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, vowed to continue to fight for human rights and democracy. On 14 November, her first day of freedom after spending more than seven years under house arrest, most of that in solitary confinement, she was greeted by tens of thousands of well-wishers, many shouting 'We love you Suu!' in Burmese. Thereupon, she made her way to the headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD), in central Rangoon. 'I am so excited that she is free,' Mae, a 17-year-old university student in Rangoon, told this writer. 'She has been under house arrest for most of my life; now, we hope things are going to change here.'
In all initial statements and interviews immediately following her release, Suu Kyi has been very cautious. 'There's a conscious attempt not to be provocative and inadvertently upset the generals,' says Justin Wintle, a British scholar and biographer of Suu Kyi. 'But her position has not changed: she steadfastly stands by all she has fought for over the years.' Indeed, Suu Kyi quickly confirmed to members of the NLD that she would 'continue my efforts to bring about national reconciliation, and I need the support of our people.'The years in detention have certainly not dented Suu Kyi's popularity. If anything, her time in house arrest has seen her public esteem grow. This time around, in the aftermath of the 7 November polls, far more people came out for a glimpse of the 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate than the last time she was released, in May 2002. This time too, all of them risked long prison terms just by being there. A significant proportion of those in the streets this time were young people, many of them barely aware of the pro-democracy leader's existence when she was last freed. 'I wasn't interested in politics before the elections,' said Moe Myat, another student from Rangoon. 'Now I want to learn everything I can about the situation in my country, and Daw Suu can certainly help us change the country for the better.'
Suu Kyi also struck a notably appeasing tone towards the military. She said that she had no bitterness towards those who have held her in detention for more than 15 of the last 21 years, and that she had been well-treated during that time. 'I hope they [the military] won't feel threatened by me,' she said. 'Popularity is something that comes and goes. I don't think that anyone should feel threatened by it.' Thus, the pro-democracy leader seemed keen to offer the military government an olive branch, and has been careful when commenting on the elections – despite the fact that the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party reportedly won convincingly, and all other parties have complained of massive electoral fraud.
Neo-Panlong
The NLD refused to re-register as a political party and was thus barred from standing in the elections. But Suu Kyi led the party's call for a mass boycott of the polls, saying that they were neither free nor fair, and she has already begun the fight in the High Court to get this decision overturned. This has struck some as premature – the next elections are scheduled to take place only after five years, and many observers feel Suu Kyi would be better off trying to distance herself from the NLD, establishing herself instead as national leader representing all the opposition. 'Returning to lead the NLD might be seen by the junta as sign that she has not changed, and is as belligerent and unbending as ever,' said a Western diplomat based in Bangkok, who has covered Burma for more than a decade but declined to be identified.