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DIPLOMATIC LICENSE

Aung San Suu Kyi Celebrates 60th Birthday Under House Arrest

Aired June 17, 2005 - 21:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECY.-GEN.: Let me first wish a happy birthday. It is unfortunate that she is celebrating it under circumstances that one would not have wished for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN ANCHOR: You've won the Nobel Peace Prize. Your party once won a national election. And important people from around the world are sending telegrams of best wishes on your 60th birthday. And this Sunday, on that birthday, you must spend it all alone. In fact, under house arrest.

Welcome to DIPLOMATIC LICENSE. I'm Richard Roth.

The isolated birthday belongs to Aung San Suu Kyi, prisoner in Myanmar, the military-ruled Southeast Asian country. This video shows her in a rare festive moment on a brief release from captivity.

We asked CNN's Aneesh Raman in neighboring Bangkok, Thailand about the woman known on Myanmar streets simply as The Lady.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The world last saw Aung San Suu Kyi in May of 2003 when, as she toured the country pushing for reform, she was violently ambushed, an ambush orchestrated by the government, and brought into custody, where she has spent 10 of the last 15 years.

CNN spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1997 and asked her about her movement.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI, ACTIVIST: We struggle for what we want, and I think only those who struggle have the right to hope. I don't think those who just sit and wait for things to happen have the right to hope.

RAMAN: Aung San Suu Kyi, of course, rose to global prominence in 1988 when she led demonstrations pushing for democracy in then Burma. Those demonstrations were brutally dispatched by the military regime and a year later she began here time under house arrest.

In 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in national elections that were blatantly ignored by the military regime. A year later, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the only recipient of that award currently imprisoned.

On Sunday, global demonstrations planned to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, but in her city of Yangon, where she remains imprisoned and alone, there will likely be deafening silence.

For DIPLOMATIC LICENSE, Aneesh Raman, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: Thank you very much, Aneesh.

Joining us right now, also from Bangkok, is Paolo Pinheiro, the U.N.'s human rights envoy for Myanmar.

Thank you for joining us, sir.

Can you tell us, what's your birthday wish for Aung San Suu Kyi? And how are you going to help accomplish it?

PAOLO PINHEIRO, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS ENVOY FOR MYANMAR: We wish that she could be in full freedom soon. I think that is very unfair, that she is submitted to a virtual solitary confinement. And I hope that she is keeping the same hope and good spirits from when I met her for the last time in November 2003.

ROTH: Describe, please, her virtual house arrest, isolation, you mentioned.

PINHEIRO: Now she has to be at home. Her doctor visits her once a month. He is searched when he enters and when he leaves her mansion. She has no access to television or to fax. Of course, not to Internet. No books. No newspapers. And what is more serious, she has no contact with her colleagues on the elective committee of her party, the MLG (ph), and she doesn't receive any visitors, no visitors at all, since she returned to this house arrest last year.

ROTH: You have dealt with human rights issues from Burundi and elsewhere in the world. How would you describe what's being done to her by the government of Myanmar?

PINHEIRO: The problem with Myanmar is that you don't have any hint of the basic freedoms. I say freedom of expression, freedom of movement. What is imposed to Aung San Suu Kyi in a certain way is imposed to all the population of Myanmar, because they cannot enjoy the basic freedoms that in many countries of the region many citizens are being able to have guaranteed for them.

ROTH: The last time you were in Myanmar, the end of 2003, can you describe that trip and why you left suddenly?

PINHEIRO: I was obliged to leave Myanmar suddenly because there was a microphone recording an interview with a prisoner. I was very tired, and usually I interview prisoners in their own cells, and it was very hot and I decided to go to a prepared room. But it was - I decided to leave immediately, the country, because this was completely unacceptable.

But this was the only incident that I had visiting prisons in Myanmar and I must say that I'm very glad that the International Committee of the Red Cross continues having access to all 1,300 prisoners. But not to Aung San Suu Kyi. I think that would be very important, that the International Committee of the Red Cross could make an independent assessment of her condition, something that I wish very much --

ROTH: I mean, this is not just about Aung San Suu Kyi. The Amnesty International, as you hinted, reported 1,350 political prisoners being abused by the government. What is the situation for the average citizen there?

PINHEIRO: For the average citizens, you are always under the uncertainty of being detained because you don't have any guarantees in term of (INAUDIBLE). For instance, very recently some citizens were apprehended because they were distributing the universal declaration for human rights, and that is something completely absurd.

ROTH: He's barred from entering Myanmar, we are talking with him in Bangkok. Thank you very much Paolo Pinheiro, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights for Myanmar.

From the U.N. view to the United States perspective, Paula Dobriansky joins us now. She's undersecretary of state for global affairs and she's at the State Department now.

Welcome to DIPLOMATIC LICENSE.

Well, what's your birthday wish for Aung San Suu Kyi? And what can the United States, the big power, do? She's in house arrest and isolated.

PAULA DOBRIANSKY, U.S. STATE DEPT.: Well, first, our birthday wish is that her next birthday, that she can celebrate it in a free and democratic Burma. We have called upon the Burmese military rulers, in fact, to release Aung San Suu Kyi in her state of house arrest. And not only to release her but also to release the 1,500 political prisoners who also are under arrest and who merely have been put into -- who have been put into detention merely because they've expressed their political views.

So we would like to see that --

ROTH: Now the military has been ruling there for decades -- Paula, the military has been there for decades. What kind of pressure has the United States been able to bear? And apparently it's not working for the United States and other countries.

DOBRIANSKY: Well, we work with the E.U., we work with many other countries. We work with countries in Asia. We have tried to bring a spotlight to the egregious human rights situation in Burma, to also the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, through many statements, statements of protest, through sanctions, through our annual human rights report, through programs that we have also provided for assistance to not only opposition groups but democracy activists on the ground there in the region. And we have to just keep applying that pressure and applying that spotlight. It has to change.

ROTH: Should Myanmar get the next chairmanship of the ASEAN group, as it is set to do next year?

DOBRIANSKY: Well, first, the United States has expressed its views on that. We don't know what Burma will look like in the time ahead, and so I think that in terms of our own participation or involvement we will wait and see what Burma is like into next year. But as of the situation right now, we've expressed our views. We think the current state of affairs does not warrant Burma being chair of ASEAN.

As for other Asian countries, we think they need to make their determination on this.

ROTH: Now, the president of the United States certainly has made clear his axis of evil and the United States is involved with Iraq and North Korea, Iran. Why doesn't President Bush perhaps speak out more on Myanmar and single out the junta there and really increase the pressure?

DOBRIANSKY: Well, President Bush has in fact spoken out about the plight of those who want to come forward and speak openly and peacefully.

What we really want to see here, we want to see the Burmese military leaders release unconditionally Aung San Suu Kyi, their other political prisoners, and engage them in national reconciliation, in dialogue, and move towards democracy.

ROTH: Thank you very much, Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs in Washington.

And we'll have more of our look at Aung San Suu Kyi, 60 years old this weekend, coming right up on DIPLOMATIC LICENSE.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNAN: And I wish she were out amongst her people and her supporters, pushing for stability and democracy and democratization of her society. I have had the chance to raise this issue with General Fansui (ph) and I will still urge him to release her and let her --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROTH: Welcome back to DIPLOMATIC LICENSE and our special look at Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner, observing her 60th birthday this weekend under house arrest.

Earlier on the program we talked with someone who wasn't able to get into the country, he's with the United Nations, and now we have on the telephone someone who has been recently in Myanmar. He's Richard Paddock of the "Los Angeles Times," the Southeast Asia bureau chief.

Thanks for joining us.

Do the people in that country know that it's Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday?

RICHARD PADDOCK, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Everyone I talked to seemed to know that it was her birthday but they don't have any plans to celebrate in any way. There is a pervasive sense of fear and fear of retribution if they were to speak out or do something to commemorate her birthday.

The only thing that I heard people plan to do is to give extra donations of food to the monasteries, which is something of a tradition here on an important day.

ROTH: Where is her home located and is it easy for outsiders to get there?

PADDOCK: It's on Inyu Lake (ph). It's actually the house of her mother and it's been in the family for quite a while. It's not easy to get there. There are checkpoints and guards preventing people. There are also photographers there who will take pictures of people who approach. So it's a real incentive to keep people away.

ROTH: How is Aung San Suu Kyi viewed inside the country? I mean, sometimes in these types of dramas internally the view is different than the outside world -- where this weekend, starting Friday, there were demonstrations and a lot of political rhetoric. What do the people think of her inside?

PADDOCK: Well, in Yangon, where I was, my impression was that everyone loved her and respected her. They see her as their leader. And they really appreciate the sacrifice that she is making. They understand the sacrifice that she is making. But they are not necessarily ready at this point to make a sacrifice of their own by protesting or staging demonstrations.

ROTH: What is it like on the streets? I think what you saw, you wouldn't know it was a police state immediately if you were looking out on the streets. I mean it's not barren and people are hiding in their homes.

PADDOCK: Well, I think that's so true in many police states. It doesn't require a lot of armed men on the street if people live in a state of fear. And that's certainly the case there.

There are so many restrictions, and people are arrested and hauled off in the middle of the night, that it doesn't require constant enforcement on the streets. So, yes, you might not know it just driving down the street.

Central Yangon is a fascinating place because life is just so vibrant and the streets are just full of activities. The sidewalk and the street is the place where business is done. People bring in things they have grown from the countryside and sit in the street and sell it, and craftsmen set up to make signs on the street. And people sit on a bench waiting to get into a clinic, carrying umbrellas, or common business is to set up a little table with a couple of telephones and charge the equivalent of about 10 cents a phone call.

So all of this activity is happening while people are out walking up and down the street.

ROTH: You said it's a closed society, yet you saw a great deal of satellite dishes.

PADDOCK: Yes, there are satellite dishes sprouting from the roofs of many of the apartment buildings. This is obviously one way people can get information from the outside. But it's for people who have money. I think that, you know, it's going to be mostly the elite who have access to these kinds of shows and elite people are often affiliated with the military.

Certainly it is probably the best way that people get information from overseas, but also many people listen to radio, to the BBC or the Voice of America and get information that way. Both of these activities are illegal in theory and people can face as much as seven years in prison if they get caught and if the government decides to enforce it in their case.

ROTH: As the Southeast Asia bureau chief, you've been in many other capitals. What it is going to take to break this military junta rule in Myanmar?

PADDOCK: Well, that's a very difficult question. Obviously, the sanctions imposed by the United States and other nations have not been entirely effective. The economy is in terrible shape, but the regime continues to keep a very firm grip on power. Part of the problem with sanctions is that neighboring countries, like China and Thailand and India and Singapore, don't respect the sanctions and are doing lots of business with Myanmar.

So without their assistance, I'm not sure the outside world can really have an effect. I don't think they can bring down the regime. Perhaps it's a matter of time. I don't know. I think it must be very frustrating for the Burmese people and for the activist community.

ROTH: What is the political situation? The government has been talking about some type of roadmap or constitutional rewriting. Where does that stand? Or have they just been bluffing the world community?

PADDOCK: Well, my impression is that the government has been very good for the last 15 years at stringing people along and promising more changes that never seem to quite materialize.

In the particular case it may be complicated by the fact that the senior general, Fansui (ph), has put a number of people under house arrest who had been talking about that roadmap. So no negotiations have been taking place for many months. Aung San Suu Kyi has not had outside visitors aside from her doctor since November. I think the restrictions on her are about as tight as they have ever been. It doesn't suggest to me that there is any progress being made at this point.

ROTH: Richard Paddock, thank you very much for joining us on the phone. You are the "Los Angeles Times" Southeast Asian bureau chief. You were recently in Myanmar for a week. Thanks very much for joining us on DIPLOMATIC LICENSE.

PADDOCK: Thank you.

ROTH: Colin Powell was in Bangkok this week and he called Myanmar the most repressive place on earth.

Coming up, we'll show you how some people around the world are staging a sympathy demonstration for Aung San Suu Kyi in a slightly different way. It's coming up next on DIPLOMATIC LICENSE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Expressing our appreciation, admiration and love for this woman of courage and next week in the Congress we shall again pass sanctions legislation on this oppressive regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: In support of Aung San Suu Kyi, many in front of embassies of Myanmar. In Washington, U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos delivered thousands of birthday cards for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

There is another way to show support. There are house arrest events also being conducted. From Boston, Simon Billanness is hosting.

Simon, can you describe what this house arrest event is?

SIMON BILLANNESS, U.S. CAMPAIGN FOR BURMA: Well, what we're doing is my wife and I are staying under house arrest for 24 hours.

We've inviting lots of friends, co-workers, supporters of democracy in Burma. We're going to do some education events. We're going to write our senators and congressmen to support further sanctions on the Burmese military junta.

ROTH: But if you were really doing a house arrest event, you wouldn't have guests over.

BILLENNESS: Well, well, at least we're not leaving, but we're using this as an opportunity to highlight the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and to really organize in support of her release and support of the democracy movement that she leads inside Burma.

ROTH: Now, you held one last year. What went on then in your house arrest event? Did it turn into a party or did people stay on message?

BILLENNESS: I think people stayed very much on message. We had a lot of Burmese food and we did a lot of organizing, letter-writing, protesting companies like Chevron-Texaco, which has just bought operations in Burma. So we're aiming this year to make this the largest ever set of events in support of Aung San Suu Kyi and to really grow the movement for her release and for the restoration of democracy in Burma.

ROTH: Now, you don't do your demonstrating only behind closed doors. You have been on the streets last month in front of the French consulate in Boston. Tell us what happened there. And does the government of Myanmar really care? Even messages from United Nations and other governments don't seem to crack them.

BILLENNESS: Well, the government in Burma does care about the money that they receive from businesses that invest in Burma and to businesses in Burma, and what we did outside the French consulate in Boston and which was replicated at French embassies all around the world was to protest the French oil company, Total, which is the largest Western investor in Burma and which generates millions of dollars for the Burmese military junta every year.

ROTH: What are the people you know in Boston saying when you say you're having a house arrest event -- in the United States, especially, when people hear a woman under house arrest, they think of Martha Stewart, who may be known somewhat around the world, a fashion queen or style queen. Do you think people in America really understand or care about Aung San Suu Kyi? And how are you going to turn that around?

BILLENNESS: Well, I think people are really understanding that Aung San Suu Kyi is the Nelson Mandela of Burma and we're making that connection very clear and showing to people that the kind of action that people took to get companies out of South Africa is exactly the kind of pressure that's also going to work to get the military out of power in Burma.

ROTH: Thank you, Simon Billenness, the United States New England coordinator for the U.S. Campaign for Burma, which is how Myanmar was originally called.

The Myanmar government did not provide someone to represent its views here, though we did invite them.

In a rare statement, this week the Nobel Peace Prize organizers said, "We ask that Aung San Suu Kyi be released immediately and look forward to the day when democracy prevails in her country."

That's DIPLOMATIC LICENSE. I'm Richard Roth in New York. Thanks for watching.

END

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