Myanmar democracy icon wants to sue junta

YANGON - Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has advised her now defunct political party to sue the ruling junta for forcing its dissolution, opposition sources said Sunday.

Suu Kyi, who is serving an 18-month sentence under house arrest, gave her legal advice to her team of lawyers, Nyan Win, Kyi Win and Khin Htay Kywe, at a meeting Saturday.

“Daw (Madame) Aung San Suu Kyi told us that we should sue the government for forcing the National League for Democracy (NLD) to be abolished, because it was unlawful,” Nyan Win said.

Suu Kyi, 65, says new electoral laws adopted by the junta were prejudiced against herself and her party.

The military government plans to stage a general election Nov 7, a week before Suu Kyi’s detention term expires.

The junta, which has ruled since 1988, last held an election in 1990 - which the NLD won by a landslide.

But the party was blocked from power, and Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

The regime made sure that NLD and Suu Kyi were barred from this year’s election by new laws covering party registration and membership regulations adopted in March.

The laws bar people currently serving prison terms from being party members, effectively forcing the NLD to choose between dropping their leader Suu Kyi or forfeiting its right to participate.

The party chose in April to boycott the polls and has since been decertified as a political party, although it still exists as an organisation.

Other regulations, such as a 500-dollar-per-candidate registration fee, in a country where per capita income is less than $600, have assured that only pro-junta parties will have sufficient candidates to fully contest the election.