Aung San Suu Kyi seeks talks with regime
Updated
In Burma, where detained Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has written to the head of the military regime, seeking direct talks.
Reports from Rangoon say Ms Suu Kyi asked for a meeting with General Than Shwe, whom she'd not met for seven years. The reports say Ms Suu Kyi wanted to explain how she could cooperate with the government, in the interest of the nation. The move comes after a recent visit by two senior US diplomats, as part of Washington's new policy of engagement with the isolated military government.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Jared Genser, Aung San Suu Kyi's international lawyer and President of the non-profit organisation Freedom Now
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GENSER: I think that's definitely a fair characterisation, I think ultimately the challenge is to get beyond talking about talks and to get into some substantive discussions about how to actually move forward towards the goals that she and the National League for Democracy and their allies have articulated, which is of course ultimately a restoration of democracy but in the shorter term release of political prisoners, rethinking of the constitution and a move towards free and fair elections.
LAM: What's the likelihood of General Than Shwe agreeing to such a meeting do you think?
GENSER: Well I think it's pretty hard for anyone to put themselves into his shoes given his very long history in the country and how reclusive he is. I hope that it's accepted in the spirit that it was offered, which is with the desire to enter into a legitimate dialogue. General Than Shwe himself has publicly and privately expressed deep consternation about the sanctions and their impact on Burma, and Ms Suu Kyi has expressed a strong willingness to sit down and to talk. I mean she has also said of course publicly as well as privately that she isn't the person who has imposed sanctions on Burma, those are independent decisions by western nations. But she is prepared to talk to him about their going jointly to the western countries that imposed sanctions, including of course Australia and talking about what needing to be done by the Burmese junta in exchange for ultimately the removal of those sanctions down the road.
LAM: But from all reports General Than Shwe is very hostile towards Aung San Suu Kyi. What can she possibly hope to get from the junta?
GENSER: Well I think given where things stand it's been of course 20 years since the 1990 elections almost when the Burmese National League for Democracy and their allies won more than 80 per cent of the vote, and we're coming up on 2010, which is the year of the scheduled elections that the Burmese junta is trying to push through. So I think this is an attempt on behalf of Ms Suu Kyi to push for any dialogue possible to get the two of them in the room together where they can talk. I think it's a very small positive step that at her request he allowed her to meet with representatives of the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom and the United States to talk about sanctions and related issues. There has been an offer as well to cooperate that she's made on humanitarian issues, and I think the real issue here that General Than Shwe is the only person who runs this country and ultimately until she gets in the room with him no real decisions can actually be made.
LAM: Indeed and Aung San Suu Kyi of course has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years. Is there any sign at all that the junta might relax the terms of her detention?
GENSER: Well again dialogue is of course helpful and I think we've seen more dialogue in recent months than we've seen in many years. So in that sense I think that's a positive development. I think that the real concern though with Ms Suu Kyi having been around this block before is that it not be allowed to be the case that form is substituted for substance, and in fact the appearance movement in terms of discussions in and of itself is meaningless unless we ultimately see some real actions to improve her situation, and of course to more importantly restart the dialogue which enables ultimately a restoration of democracy.
