Aung San Suu Kyi: From icon to political player

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21802811

Aung San Suu Kyi: From icon to political player

The woman who was once the world's most famous political prisoner is now wearing the less glamorous mantle of a mere politician.

Aung San Suu Kyi's re-election last weekend as chair of the party she helped found 35 years ago was one of the few certainties in today's Burma.

As one of the party elders said, without her the National League for Democracy is meaningless.

The aura surrounding her is still an extraordinary thing to witness.

Her appearance - and she is always impeccably dressed - at any public event, is akin to watching the arrival of royalty, or a Hollywood superstar.

Even seasoned diplomats are reduced to begging for photos with her like gushing fans.

When she turns her attention to you, her charm and charisma can be overpowering.

It is hard to imagine any other result in the election that is due in three years' time than a resounding victory for the NLD, essentially on the back of the reverence for her.

But preparing her party for government is another matter.

During the long years of her incarceration, the party atrophied.

Many of its members were jailed - and some died in custody.

The NLD was left in the hands of a few elderly loyalists, known as the uncles.

It is poorly organised, beset by internal bickering, and desperately short of money.

Last weekend's Congress was supposed to improve this.

But the newly elected central committee is not hugely different to the old one.

There were complaints, too, about the less than democratic way delegates were chosen in some parts of the country.

Aung San Suu Kyi urged the party rank-and-file not to be afraid of her, and to speak out. She says she welcomes criticism.

But that is not easy for anyone confronting this famous and formidable personality, let alone a humble party activist.

And it is worth remembering that she has a track record of turning against those who disagree too vehemently with her.

(continued)

[FBM]

She took on a tough one with that mine issue. She has to know that the current regime is going to do what it wants to regardless of what the people say, and if she goes against the gov't, her party may lose her again to house arrest or something. Also, what she said is true, the country is in desperate need of that sort of investment. Long term development and the subsequent rise in the general standard of living or the legitimate complaints of those the mine affect right now. Glad I'm not in her shoes.

[JimC]

Her father lead a major nationalist group during WW2, initially firm allies of the Japanese.

When the British were clearly winning the war, he changed sides and helped to pursue the starving remnants of the Japanese Army in Burma.

He clearly knew which side his bread was buttered...

[cronus]

Her father lead a major nationalist group during WW2, initially firm allies of the Japanese.

When the British were clearly winning the war, he changed sides and helped to pursue the starving remnants of the Japanese Army in Burma.

He clearly knew which side his bread was buttered...

The sort of pragmatism which doesn't win you friends but at least keeps you alive....

[mistermack]

Her father lead a major nationalist group during WW2, initially firm allies of the Japanese.

When the British were clearly winning the war, he changed sides and helped to pursue the starving remnants of the Japanese Army in Burma.

He clearly knew which side his bread was buttered...

The sort of pragmatism which doesn't win you friends but at least keeps you alive....

And your people alive. I've got no criticism of that policy, if you are virtually unarmed, and dealing with two obnoxious superpower empires.

[FBM]

There's no telling what sort of story the Japanese fed to him at the time. Maybe he finally just figured out what they really had in mind. Hard to say. Anyway, he wound up doing the right thing. Maybe the current heads are starting to see the light, too.