The Rangoon Squad
PEDERSON, RENA
The Rangoon Squad Burma's junta "disappears" the country's leading democrat. by RENA PEDERSON IN THE TRADEMARK MANNER of thugocracies, Burma's military government, seeking to silence its critics,...
...In this country, few people know her name, much less how to pronounce it (aww s^'wn soo chee...
...That prospect has alarmed India, its neighbor to the west...
...Even if Aung San Suu Kyi eventually emerges unharmed, the movement for free elections has been set back by the violent turn of events...
...They will need help...
...The Bush administration must back up its words with actions...
...It will be up to the United States to increase pressure on the Burmese generals, who apparently thought they could decapitate their opposition while the world was concentrating on the Middle East...
...In the process, she has become the photogenic symbol of democracy in Asia...
...In 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, won 80 percent of the vote in elections the junta mistakenly had thought they could control...
...Government harassment then increased...
...She lived quietly in England as a wife and mother of two boys until her own mother suffered a stroke in 1988, and she returned to Burma to care for her...
...But reports persisted that Suu Kyi had suffered a severe blow to the head and possibly a broken arm...
...He was assassinated when his daughter was only 2. His wife, a wartime nurse, went on to become ambassador to India...
...On May 29, the day before the ambush, clashes broke out between government supporters armed with machetes and NLD backers, leaving several dead...
...The international response to her rearrest has been near unanimous condemnation...
...They promised they would release all political prisoners...
...One in four citizens reportedly spies for the government, so everyone is guarded about what is said in public...
...The government would say only that she had been placed in "protective custody" and that she had not been injured...
...They have not...
...Suu Kyi was entreated to stay and help lead the democracy effort, which she did, at great personal sacrifice...
...When I spoke with Aung San Suu Kyi in February, she expressed frustration that the junta had not opened a dialogue with her party after her release from house arrest in May 2002...
...The Lady" is in greater jeopardy than ever before...
...Instead of seating the winners in parliament, the generals threw many NLD leaders in jail and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest, where she remained for most of the ensuing 13 years...
...The most tepid responses came from Burma's Southeast Asian neighbors, who have their own concerns about stability...
...The government controls the only two newspapers and TV staRena Pederson is editor at large at the Dallas Morning News...
...Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California, moved to toughen existing sanctions on Thursday...
...She has seen her sons only sporadically since...
...But her story has the sweep and drama of Gone With The Wind...
...The main office of the National League for Democracy, in Rangoon, has been closed, padlocked, and placed under guard, and other party offices have been shuttered...
...In riots that year, soldiers shot and killed more student demonstrators than would die in 1989 at Tiananmen Square...
...Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and Rep...
...The world hardly needs another crisis at this moment, but the situation in Burma could be destabilizing...
...This spring she began speaking out more forcefully...
...Universities, too, have been shut to prevent student protests...
...On Capitol Hill, Sen...
...As the Boston Globe pointed out, President Bush could issue an executive order that would accomplish the same thing...
...And, oh yes, Burma has one of the fastest-growing AIDS rates in the world—and one of the worst health systems...
...When she ventured into the northern states two weeks ago, thousands of supporters risked their lives to greet the woman they call "the Lady...
...The government promised that it would begin discussions about the transition to democracy," she said...
...Nevertheless, clandestine sources inside Burma that have proved reliable in the past report that hundreds of armed men attacked the motorcade, some disguised as Buddhist monks...
...And they promised to allow the publication of independent newspapers...
...The Nobel Peace Prize winner was assaulted and taken to an undisclosed location...
...Her father, General Aung San, was a leader of the democracy movement in Burma after World War II and was expected to become the first president after Great Britain relinquished control...
...They beat Suu Kyi's supporters with bamboo clubs three feet long and riddled her car with bullets...
...by RENA PEDERSON IN THE TRADEMARK MANNER of thugocracies, Burma's military government, seeking to silence its critics, sent a mob to attack the motorcade of longtime democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi on the night of Friday, May 30, as she traveled to a speaking engagement in the north of the country...
...They have not...
...Japan, the leading investor in Burma, said the situation was not "good" and dialogue was needed for a democratic solution...
...Further complicating the picture, Burma is one of the world's largest producers of heroin and amphetamines...
...On May 24, 10 NLD members were jailed...
...The window was shattered, and either a rock or a brick was thrown at Suu Kyi's head while she was seated in the car...
...And four years ago, as her husband was dying of cancer, the junta refused to grant him a visa to visit her...
...Plainly, Suu Kyi, who is 57 and weighs about 100 pounds, faces long odds—though not for the first time...
...The problem with getting an accurate story about what happened is that everyone who could speak the truth in Burma is under arrest," said one democracy advocate in Washington...
...Several students reportedly tried to shield her with their bodies, but they were beaten severely, and she was dragged away bleeding...
...Suu Kyi was educated at Oxford and married a fellow student, who became a professor of Tibetan studies...
...Since 1988, she has been standing up to one of the most brutal regimes in the world...
...She asked with a wry smile, "You haven't seen one, have you...
...At the same time, Thailand, to the east, is overwhelmed by the thousands of refugees pouring across the border each day to escape the rapacious Burmese military...
...Drug dealers are often seen playing golf with high-ranking generals and hold high positions in major banks...
...Inside Burma, it was said that hundreds of her supporters had been murdered...
...They asked for an explanation of Suu Kyi's detention, but would not demand her release...
...Some were convicts released at the government's behest...
...Burma has been seeking aid from China, its neighbor to the north, which wouldn't mind having Burma as a vassal state providing port access to the Indian Ocean...
...tions, and the leading journalist is in prison...
...In the midst of peace negotiations in the Middle East, President Bush expressed his deep concern and called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi and her supporters, as did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan...
...According to this account, she was taken to a military hospital for stitches and then transferred to Yemon military camp about 25 miles from Rangoon...
...At least 18 people were believed detained...
...international news agencies reported at least 70 killed and 50 injured...
...It remains to be seen what the long-repressed Burmese people and the much-distracted international community will do about it...
Vol. 8 • June 2003 • No. 39
