Aung San Suu Kyi's interview on the state of democracy in Burma

A week ago I posted a blog highlighting the importance of Burma's pro-Democracy and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's five-day visit to China. Today Fred Hiatt, the Washington Post's editorial page editor, published a telephone interview he had with Suu Kyi following the China visit.

 

Suu Kyi did not disclose much about her trip to China, so it's hard to read too much into her "no comment" comment.  Most of the interview focused on the state of democracy in Burma, commonly known as Myanmar.  It's clearly in a very delicate state, especially since the military government leaders wrote into its constitution that the military gets 25 seats in the parliament. The country is going to have elections this November.  Burma also faces practical challenges like reducing the errors its voter rolls prior to the elections.

 

Suu Kyi's tone throughout the interview is balanced, but determined:  Unless significant changes are made in the short-term and over the longer-term, democracy will not take hold in Burma and it will slide back into the military dictatorship. 

 

You can read the interview here.