WE HAVE COMPROMISED (Cont.)
Your executive committee is getting pretty long in the tooth.
"Well, yes, the younger ones are in jail at the moment. Our younger potential EC members."
It seems that the regime feels more comfortable than ever at this time. They are less worried about you and your party. Many feel they are winning the PR battle so to speak.
"I don't know whether they are less worried or more worried, but we are not particularly worried either. Because I think the regime knows that they have a lot of problems."
Reading some recent reports in the regional press, I see headlines like 'Burmese icon suffers indignity of dissent' and 'Critics have a tough time with Aung San Suu Kyi' etc etc. It seems even normally supportive papers are being more critical of you.
"We've always had that. I don't think we have ever had 100% support from any media. I think there were probably some Western newspapers which consistently supported the movement for democracy. But I don't think you can say that for any of the Asian media."
You don't feel that you are somehow losing the game?
"No, we've always had ups and downs. This is nothing new. We've always had these declarations about how the NLD is losing ground and it's, you know, people are falling away. And then again you get another wave of you know troubles within the NLD and too much pressure and cracking up, it's really like waves going up and down, and that's politics. It's been like that since the very beginning in 1988. We have never had, I don't think we've ever had a run of more than a few months of consistent, of one view of the NLD. It'll be like this now, like this time. I remember a matter of days before the elections in 1990 a lot of newspapers were commenting on the fact that of course the NLD was popular and that it could possibly win the largest number of seats in parliament, but certainly not a majority. And this is not the view of one paper, it was a general view. And this was days before the 1990 elections. And then of course, after the elections it was a completely different view altogether. As though they knew all along that it was the NLD that had the grassroots support. So we've got quite used to that now. The ups and downs of news reporting."
Nobody realized in advance what the magnitude of your win would be in the 1990 elections. I suspect even NLD people never thought you would win that many seats.
"We did. I think, I can prove it. I had actually written to somebody to say that I was sure that we would win at least 75% of the seats. And I think there were others who knew that too."
You've taken this position even against humanitarian aid?
"What stand against humanitarian aid? People donating medical products and injectables and so on.
"No, we haven't. Now this is the problem, people never go into these things thoroughly. What we said about humanitarian aid is that we are not against it. But we want it properly monitored so that it is given equally to everybody and not just to those who are favored by the authorities. And that the aid should not be used by the authorities as part of the propaganda machine."
But no developing country can ever guarantee aid won't be misued in some way. So they can't guarantee that here, and so because of your stance it doesn't come in and again the people suffer.
"Well, some can come in, and some has done so. I mean, the way with certain United Nations agency projects, we have agreed that they were doing good and that it was being properly monitored and they are going ahead. There are others to which we have objected on the grounds that they were helping the regime. For example, there were certain projects where it was arranged for members of the regime's USDA United Solidarity & Development Association to be sent on courses abroad for observatory holidays and things like that. And we would object to this because this is obviously playing into the hands of the SPDC. But we have never said that we are against humanitarian aid per se. And we've never said that all NGOs should leave Burma or not come in. Or anything like that."
So again there seems to be a wrong perception since many people say: Suu Kyi won't even let humanitarian aid in, they even mention examples, some injectables.
"Well, nobody even asked us what do we feel about them donating whatever it is. And if they had asked us we would probably have said: well, that's fine provided you make sure it is given to everybody in an even-handed way and that it's not given to the USDA. For example, if you're going to distribute milk powder we certainly don't want the USDA to be the organization through which this milk powder is distributed. Because then that would become a political rather than a humanitarian project."
But surely at least people would get the milk powder anyway?
"Well, depends who. The people might not get the milk powder, the families of the USDA might get the milk powder and some of it might well go onto the market. A diplomat admitted to me that he had actually seen some medicines donated by his country in a shop. I think there was a certain symbol which indicated that this was part of a load of medicines donated for humanitarian purposes. But where did those medicines end up: in a private pharmacy. There is a lot of that going on. This is what we want to guard against."
After six years house arrest, you now have limited freedom. But people say you don't travel about the city much.
"Why should I? What for? I mean, I do go around. But I don't go out just in order to be seen going out. I go out when there is reason for me to go out. We always go to NLD functions, that is to say, you know, for example, if any member of the NLD dies, we always rally round and organize the funeral and religious rites and so on. On these occasions I do go. And I do go to certain social functions, family affairs and so on. But I don't go walkabout just for the sake of going walkabout if that is what they mean. I do go to the pagoda occasionally."
And within Yangon city you are fairly unrestricted?
"Yes. I don't go shopping very often, I took my son shopping the other day. But I really don't have much to shop for. Because what would I shop for? I live at home. I don't have family here so I don't have a family to shop for."
How do you feel about being called tags like the 'champion of democracy' and the 'heroine of Burma' and so on?
"I don't take them really too seriously. The tags change all the time, don't they."
But you are one of the few figures who are recognized all over the world.
"I don't think so. I think there are many others who are supposed to be champions of certain causes, not necessarily just democracy."
But in the context of being a champion fighting against great odds, you're seen as comparable to the Dalai Lama.
"Well, I don't think anything particular about it. For me it is just a job that has to be done."
Not a martyr?
"No. No, I don't have a martyr complex. What you need are workers, not martyrs."
You did say at one time that you had no ill feelings toward the military for putting you under house arrest, 'I do have a soft spot for the Myanmar army, it's because of my father,' you said.
"Yes, I don't hold it against them because they put me under house arrest."
No bitterness?
"No. Why? It's part of the job. You know."
People say this intractable impasse has become worse because it has become personalized. That there appears to be personal animosity between the principals on both sides.
"Which principals?
Yourself and -
"And who? That's when they say the regime leaders and then one is not quite sure who is actually the dominant leader of the regime. So that's also only speculative. If they mean me and all the SPDC, then it's not personal any more, is it. Because it's all of them."
Okay, you and General Khin Nyunt.
"Khin Nyunt, I don't even know him. I've met him one, two, three times. And we haven't had enough dealings with people to be able to say that there's a personal animosity between us. I don't know if there is on his side, but certainly not on mine. It's very difficult to have a personal animosity against somebody whom you've only met two or three times under rather formal circumstances."
But based on that limited experience with him.
"No, there was no grounds for personal animosity at all. We don't like in the least bit what the MI Military Intelligence, which Khin Nyunt heads are doing, but that's not personal. It's the MI as an organization and it's actions that we object to. It's not to do with Khin Nyunt as a person."
Under the right circumstances you feel you could work with him?
"I don't know whether I can get along with him or not, but there's no reason why we should not be able to get work done if there is work to be done together."
He has been termed the 'prince of darkness' by some publications.
"I don't know why. I think military intelligence organizations everywhere are terrible. They go in for torture and oppression and a whole lot of nastiness, so as somebody who represents such an organization I suppose you can call him all sorts of things but I think expressions like the 'prince of darkness' are rather too dramatic."
The domestic media in these critical articles about you, refer to you as the 'bogadaw' - it means the foreigner, doesn't it?
"Oh, I think it means the wife of a white man. Well, I am the wife of an Englishman."
The cast doubts on your citizenship because you lived abroad, mostly in England, for such a long time. Are you a Burmese citizen?
"Yes, I am a Burmese citizen."
Do you have a British passport?
"No, I don't. I have never had one. I think that upsets them, that I've never held any other nationality except Burmese. I think they would be very happy if they could say that I had ever been a citizen of another country."
The government says that you showed little interest in your country when you lived abroad, you never reported to the embassy in London and so forth. That effectively you turned your back on Burma for 20 odd years.
"They can say whatever they like. For example, they say I didn't register my children at the embassy of Burma in London. And I was amused because it's precisely because I registered my children at the embassy that they thought of saying that I didn't. Some of the things they say are just downright lies. They say my husband moved from a small house in England into a huge one which he bought with the money that I got from my Nobel Prize. When in fact he moved from a whole house into an apartment at the top of a bigger house. Because an apartment house is obviously much more bigger than a family home. And they knew it was a lie, but they kept saying it deliberately."
Do you still feel bitter about the way they refused to let your husband visit you in Myanmar before he died?
"I don't discuss family matters."
Why not?
"Because I want my family to be able to maintain their privacy. And people are interested in me for the politics that I'm doing so let's stick to that."
But in the democratic world it's a fact of life for public figures to have aspects of their private life made public.
"This is not a democratic world in which I'm living." But if it became one you'd have to discuss your private life.
"Well, it depends on what you mean by having to discuss it. I don't think there is a requirement as such. You can choose to discuss it or choose not to."
Your health is good?
"It's fine."
Are you rich?
"No. But I'm all right. I'm not rich, I have earnings from my books royalities which by Burmese standards are good. But compared to the members of SPDC I'm nothing like wealthy."
You are legally secretary-general of the NLD?
"Yes."
The regime says not.
"Yes, they have no right to say that. According to the rules of the multi-party democracy elections commission, it's for the political parties to decide what they do in their own internal affairs."
Are you going to leave the country?
"No. Why should I?"
You would never take a trip because you are fearful they would not allow you back?
"Oh, well, there will come a time when I will be able to take a trip without worrying about whether I can come back."
Some people, other journalists and diplomats, told me that you are thin-skinned and get upset at certain questions.
"Why? I have met many journalists, and they all ask the same sort of questions you want to ask. And the only ones I consistently refuse to answer is anything about my family. Otherwise it is a journalist's job to ask questions. Whether or not the interviewee likes the question is another matter. There are diplomats with whom I disagree. And if I don't agree with them, I say so. They say so, too. Which is fair enough. But I've met so many journalists that if I were to be upset every time they asked me a question that was not exactly what I wanted I'd have to be upset all the time. I've never heard of anybody ever being asked to be tactful about my feelings. I mean, I take it for granted that politicians are there to be asked questions however awkward the questions may be."
