Nigeria Content Online

World acclaimed
pro-democracy fighter, Aung San Suu Kyi, spent her first day of freedom
testing Myanmar’s political minefield with a vow to press ahead in her
decades-long fight for democracy and also calling for compromise with
other political parties and ruling military government.

Suu Kyi, who was
freed from house arrest Saturday after spending close to two decades in
jail, told journalists she faces a precarious position: manoeuvring
between the expectations of the country’s pro-democracy movement and the
realities of dealing with a clique of generals who have kept her locked
up for years. “I’ve always believed in compromise,” the Nobel Peace
laureate told reporters in the dilapidated offices of her party, the
National League for Democracy. “I am for national reconciliation. I am
for dialogue. Whatever authority I have, I will use it to that end … I
hope the people will support me.”

Myanmar, once known
as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962, leaving it isolated
from much of the international community and battered by poverty. The
junta has an abysmal human rights record, holding thousands of political
prisoners and waging brutal military campaigns against ethnic
minorities. The military annulled the last general election held in the
country, after the politicians it supported lost to Ms Suu Kyi’s NLD,
and the country has been placed under various sanctions by, mostly,
western nations. In recent years, though, it has also become an
increasingly important regional trading hub, and its natural gas
reserves and hydroelectric possibilities have brought it close to
energy-hungry China and India.

National reconciliation

Yesterday, Ms Suu
Kyi spoke to a rapturous crowd of as many as 10,000 people who jammed
the street in front of the office. While the speech was technically
illegal – any gathering of more than a handful of people needs
government permission in Myanmar – the authorities made no arrests.
Dozens of secret police officers were on hand Sunday to record her
comments and photograph those in attendance. “I believe in human rights
and I believe in the rule of law,” she said. “I will always fight for
these things. I want to work with all democratic forces and I need the
support of the people.” However, she also urged her followers to work
for national reconciliation. “If we want to get what we want, we have to
do it in the right way; otherwise we will not achieve our goal however
noble or correct it may be,” she said.