Democracy would eventually come to Myanmar: Suu Kyi

LONDON - Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi — freed Nov 13 by the military junta after over seven years in house arrest — is sure democracy would come to the country eventually, although she does not know how long it would take, the BBC reported Tuesday.

Suu Kyi, 65, told BBC’s John Simpson at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Yangon that her aim was for a peaceful revolution in Myanmar, but she did not want the junta to fall but to change and serve the country better.

“I don’t want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism,” said Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San.

“I think it’s quite obvious what the people want - the people just want better lives based on security and on freedom.”

But she also said she hoped for a non-violent end to military rule.

“I think we also have to try to make this thing happen… Velvet revolution sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent revolution. Let’s put it that way,” she said.

Suu Kyi confirmed she was not subject to any restrictions on her freedom, but added that she was fully prepared to face the consequences if the military government decided to lock her up again for what she said or did.

Several security officials watched the interview from across the street at the NLD headquarters but did not intervene, the report said.

The pro-democracy icon had spent 15 of the past 20 years in detention. She was serving an 18-month house arrest imposed by a criminal court in July 2009 for breaking the terms of her previous incarceration by allowing a US national to swim to her lakeside home.

Suu Kyi was released within days of Myanmar’s general election held Nov 7.

Her party, which won the 1990 polls by a landslide but was blocked from power for the past 20 years, decided to boycott the vote this time.

Initial results from the election showed that the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the proxy party of the junta regime, won by a landslide.