Suu Kyi wins a round, but her cause is faltering

Democracy effort makes few gains in climate of fear

By Rafael D. Frankel, Globe Correspondent, 2/23/2003

RANGOON, Burma -- Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Burmese National League for Democracy and a Nobel Peace laureate, called their bluff.

On Friday, a Burmese township court found her guilty of wrongful restraint in a civil suit and gave her the choice of paying a 50-cent fine or spending a week in jail. She chose the latter.

After word spread on the street that ''The Lady,'' as she is affectionately and surreptitiously called in Burma, might be headed to jail, 2,000 supporters gathered outside the courthouse. The military government relented and ordered the sentence suspended.

Despite the minor victory, the democracy movement here is struggling, eight months after hopes for a breakthrough were raised when Suu Kyi was freed from her second house arrest. Instead, relations between the National League for Democracy and the military junta that has ruled Burma since 1988 have hardened, bringing despair and frustration within the party and among its millions of supporters.

''It's obvious the process has stalled,'' one Western ambassador, who like other envoys, aid workers, and most Burmese spoke on condition of anonymity.

The case against Suu Kyi reflected the tall order democracy supporters face.

According to local and foreign specialists in Burmese law, the trial and eventual finding against Suu Kyi appeared to fraught with legal irregularities. An official spokesman for the National League for Democracy, U Luwin, said: ''It definitely was politically motivated.''

Suu Kyi ''said it was not a fair trial and not a fair judgment and would not accept the fine,'' U Luwin told a crowd gathered at the group's headquarters here on Friday.

Among the gathering were diplomats from the United States, Britain, Italy, and Germany, among others.

The suit stemmed from an altercation on May 8, two days after Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. Her cousin, described as a black sheep by a source close to the family, punched her after she refused to let him inside her compound.

Suu Kyi filed a suit against her cousin for assault, and he filed a countersuit. The cousin, Soe Aung, was also found guilty and was ordered to pay a $1 fine or spend a month in jail. The outcome of his case was unclear.

On Friday, U Luwin said in an interview that the military regime, which refers to itself as the State Peace and Development Council, was running a smear campaign against the National League for Democracy and Suu Kyi in particular. A cartoon published recently in a Burmese-language newspaper depicted Suu Kyi and the senior members of the party as tarnishing the image of the Burmese people.

''NLD officials believe there is an orchestrated political campaign to embarrass her, to diminish her, and make her look ordinary,'' a Western diplomat said. ''The irregularities with the way this case was handled support that.''

To say that a dialogue between the military and the National League for Democracy is at a standstill would imply that one had begun. It hasn't, and there are no signs of one starting in the foreseeable future.

Suu Kyi's conviction on Friday followed the arrest two weeks ago of seven National League for Democracy members and five other activists. The military has refused to negotiate.

''The general sense'' is that the democracy process ''is going nowhere, and we're extraordinarily disappointed with that,'' a Western diplomat said.

Interviews with taxi drivers, hotel clerks, professors, and health care workers all point to high discontent in Burma, or Myanmar, long one of the wealthiest countries in Asia. A taxi driver, his voice trembling and rising as he spoke, said there ''will soon be an explosion.''

Because of the ubiquitous presence of military intelligence personnel, such ''interviews'' are conducted in hushed tones in the corners of bars, or in private vehicles -- when they are conducted at all. When asked about anything remotely concerning the military regime, most Burmese shake their heads and walk away.

Those who do talk paint a picture of a society deeply frustrated with a crumbling economy and an inept military government that has failed to improve most sectors of society, from health care to education, and most of all, in sustaining an adequate standard of living.

''In a communist way of speaking, you could say that everything is `ripe for a revolution,' '' said a politician who has been jailed repeatedly for 20 years.

Adding to the unease here, the United Nations warned its employees Friday to exercise caution. A liquidity crisis in the banking system, coupled with rampant inflation of staple goods such as rice, cooking oil, and gasoline, is threatening to bring the economy to a halt.

But a revolution is not on everyone's mind. Though she described a ''smoldering discontent in Burma right now,'' a local health care worker said that conditions are not the same as in 1988, when an uprising against the socialist government led to the military takeover.

''There now exists a small segment of society which has done very well for themselves over the last few years, and has a stake in seeing that things do not change too much,'' she said.

For her part, Suu Kyi has said that even if it meant the overthrow of the military regime, she was not in favor of a violent uprising because of the suffering it would bring to the Burmese people, U Luwin said.

©2003 Globe Newspaper Company