Suu Kyi's release
After days of intense speculation, the Myanmar military government finally released on Monday opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from 19 months of house arrest, in what is seen by the international community as a reconciliatory gesture by the junta in Yangon to Suu Kyi's widely supported democratic movement, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
We heartily welcome the release of Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has become an icon of democratic struggle, provided that her release is an unconditional one.
It should by no means be a repetition of what happened in 1995 when, after six years of house arrest, Suu Kyi was freed by the same ruling junta on condition that she could not travel outside Yangon, a ban aimed at constraining her political activities. When she defied the travel ban, she was again confined to her lakeside residence with no access to the world outside.
Suu Kyi, 56, was the choice of the majority of Myanmar's 50 million people to lead the country. In 1990 her NLD overwhelmingly won a parliamentary election. The victory, however, was nullified by the junta, under the pretext of security.
Decades of military rule and repressive politics, worsened by the disavowal of Suu Kyi's NLD victory, have made most industrialized states feel reluctant to invest in Myanmar, thereby bringing the country's economy to a near standstill. Worse still, the United States and the European Union have imposed trade and economic sanctions.
It stands to reason that, with mounting international pressures and with its economy on the brink of collapse, the junta has to release political dissidents and prisoners so as to free itself from international isolation. The more so now that a number of authoritarian governments in Southeast Asia have become more open and liberalized their political institutions.
Myanmar cannot but be more receptive, if not compromising, to the aspirations of its people if it does not want to see itself shackled as a reclusive state.
The release of Suu Kyi, we believe, is a first prudent step in a series of measures that will be undertaken to implement political and economic reform, which its neighbors, particularly fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have long been expecting.
As for newly freed Suu Kyi, we have high hopes she will continue her struggle. It is also expected that Suu Kyi, who once criticized the ruling junta for not being capable of running the country's economy, will strive for a better, more democratic and prosperous Myanmar.
ASEAN obviously wishes to see Myanmar develop and be successful in implementing its reforms. A more democratic and prosperous Myanmar can encourage other members of ASEAN to cooperate more comprehensively to make it more cohesive in facing the ever growing global challenges.