US has strongly reacted to reports about the illness of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s charismatic champion of democracy, demanding her immediate release. Suu Kyi, who has remained a prisoner in her own home, after her National League for Democracy swept parliamentary elections in 1990.
The military junta that has ruled the Southeast Asian country for the past 45 years simply ignored the democratic verdict. Instead it went ahead and imprisoned Suu Kyi, the winner of that historic vote. Last month, the Generals extended her detention by another year despite passionate appeals by Burma’s friends, neighbours and the world powers.
Burma remains an affront to the international community and all that it believes in: freedom, democracy, rule of law, justice and human rights. It is hard to believe that the tyrants can get away with such blatant abuse of basic rights in the 21st century. When will the world act to stop this continuing outrage? The Generals in Rangoon have to be sent back to their barracks, or wherever they came from.
Burma’s neighbours and big powers have to stop treating the junta with kid gloves. It’s time to show where the world stands on basics such as a people’s right to determine and run own affairs. And it’s time to force the junta to free Suu Kyi and her people.