Myanmar’s Suu Kyi ‘optimistic’ after historic talks with ex-enemy

The meeting between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Than Shwe took place on Friday at the ex-junta chief’s private residence in Nay Pyi Taw and lasted for two and a half hours, Ko Nay Shwe Thway Aung said in a Facebook post claiming to amount to a joint statement by the two leaders.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is set to take over from the military-backed regime next year after taking almost 80 percent of the seats in the November 8 general election, but its world-famous leader will not be allowed to become president because the constitution, drafted by the former junta, bars her from the position.

We have been struggling for more than 27 years to reach this stage.

Suu Kyi’s NLD trounced the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Burma’s November 8 general election and will have the votes needed to select Burma’s next president, though the party has not revealed who its candidate for the post might be in light of Suu Kyi’s ineligibility.

The NLD won an overwhelming majority in Parliament – but Ms Suu Kyi can not be president under the current Constitution because of her foreign family ties.

Myanmar’s former military ruler, General Than Shwe, has pledged support for erstwhile foe, Aung San Suu Kyi, as the country’s “future leader”, in a secret meeting.

The talks were hugely symbolic with the figurehead of a once persecuted pro-democracy movement discussing Myanmar’s future with the chief of a military that used an iron fist to monopolise power for five decades.

There are major challenges ahead, not least for the NLD’s lawmakers, who are political novices in a country beset by poverty, corruption and weak governance.

The pair smiled as they shook hands for the cameras before the closed-door session began. “The discussion was warm and open”, Information Minister Ye Htut who was at the meeting told reporters. “They mainly focused on the smooth and peaceful transfer of state responsibilities to the future government”. That outcome was interpreted as both an NLD public mandate and a protest vote against the military’s political role.

The army still controls 25 per cent of total seats however, effectively holding a veto against changing the Constitution – something high on the NLD’s agenda but also a potential sensitive point for the army.

That failed, and she criticised Min Aung Hlaing for interfering in democracy.

Khin Zaw Win of the Tampadipa Institute think-tank said the gag order was understandable given the NLD’s inexperience, but Suu Kyi herself should tread carefully having stirred controversy by announcing a plan to control a nominee president.

It referred to each of them as Myanmar leaders.