Bangkok: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a direct appeal to Myanmar junta supremo Than Shwe on Friday to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose latest detention order expires this weekend.
"I take this opportunity to appeal to General Than Shwe and the government to release her," Annan said in a statement. "I am relying on you, General Than Shwe, to do the right thing."
"For the democratic process and the reconciliation process to be truly successful, it has to be inclusive and she has a role to play," Annan said. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which won a 1990 election by a landslide only to be denied power by the army, should also be allowed to participate in a "national dialogue" on the future of the former Burma, he said.
"I think it would be in the interest of Myanmar, the region and the world at large," Annan said during a visit to Bangkok. Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has spent more than 10 of the past 16 years behind bars or under house arrest.
Her latest detention started "for her own safety" on May 30, 2003 after clashes far from the capital between her supporters and pro-junta demonstrators. But Yangon's generals let a top UN official meet her last weekend, raising hopes she could be released on Saturday.
Then the national police chief said her release would not be a problem because support for the NLD was waning. "I think there will not be rallies or riots in Myanmar if Suu Kyi is released," Police Major-General Khin Yi told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, where he was attending a regional meeting.
"Our police force can handle everything. There is peace and tranquility in Myanmar," he said.
Regional pressure
But Saturday is also the anniversary of the military's 1990 ballot-box humiliation at the hands of the NLD, which won 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in the first multi-party elections in three decades. Malaysia, the current chairman of Southeast Asia's regional political grouping, echoed Annan's words.
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"I don't think it's beneficial for Myanmar to keep her indefinitely," said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who visited Yangon in March as an envoy of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). "One of the best ways, rather than to renew the detention, is to release her," he told reporters.
"The government is very strong and very stable. They are able to maintain security. Why should they be worried? "The international community will welcome it, but it's their right. We hope they will take the views and feelings of others into account."
Myanmar, which has been under military rule of one form or another since 1962, has been a member of ASEAN since 1997 but is a source of embarrassment to one of the few international groups willing to have it as a member.
Senior UN official Ibrahim Gambari met Suu Kyi last Saturday in a Yangon guest house, her first contact with an outsider in more than two years. Gambari said the meeting did not mean her release was imminent, but the encounter sparked talk the generals might be prepared to free her when her current six-month detention order lapses on Saturday.
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