[But as landmark elections
approach — a contest described by some as a once-in-a-generation opportunity
for democratic forces — Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is being openly criticized by
activists, commentators and intellectuals. They accuse her of a
my-way-or-the-highway approach to managing her party. They question her
decision to ally herself with a now marginalized former general. And they say
she is missing an opportunity to build a grand coalition of democratic forces,
including minority ethnic groups whose support may be crucial after the
election.]
 |
Opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi delivered a speech in Thanlyin,
outskirts of
Bo/European Pressphoto Agency
|
“The goal is still democracy, but her behavior is authoritarian,”
said Mr. Myo Khin, whose credentials in the democracy movement include 12 years
as a political prisoner. “She is losing people like us who have been strong
supporters for a very long time.”
It was taboo for many years among democracy activists in Myanmar to speak ill of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi,
who became a global icon of democracy and a symbol of resistance against
oppression when Myanmar
But
as landmark elections approach — a contest described by some as a
once-in-a-generation opportunity for democratic forces — Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi
is being openly criticized by activists, commentators and intellectuals. They
accuse her of a my-way-or-the-highway approach to managing her party. They
question her decision to ally herself with a now marginalized former general.
And they say she is missing an opportunity to build a grand coalition of
democratic forces, including minority ethnic groups whose support may be
crucial after the election.
“She
has made enemies with the people she needs,” said U Sithu Aung Myint, a widely
read columnist with a reputation for nonpartisan commentary. “She lacks
strategic thinking, and she is not a clever politician.”
For a woman who sacrificed the better part of two decades fighting dictatorship, much of that
time under house arrest, it is deeply paradoxical that a word increasingly used
to describe her is authoritarian, even among her closest allies in her party,
the National League for Democracy.
Asked what he thought of the term, U Nyan Win, the party’s
spokesman, did not hesitate.
“I agree,” he said.
But he insisted that her top-down handling of party affairs did
not diminish her legacy and leadership in pushing for democratic change.
Burmese political culture has long featured hierarchical
decision-making, he said, and her party is no exception. He painted a picture
of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who turned 70 in June, as overworked, struggling to
delegate power and not always getting accurate information about the day-to-day
decisions within the party.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi declined requests to be interviewed for
this article.
Her party came under its heaviest criticism in recent months
during the selection process of candidates for the Nov. 8 election. Some of the
leading lights of the democracy movement, former political prisoners known as
the 88 Generation, were largely passed over. The party’s leadership also
overruled the recommendations and nominations of many local chapters, putting
in place their own candidates for the election. Those decisions spawned a rare
public display of anger and defections. A number of defiant members of the
party were expelled.
As the controversy grew, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s response came
across to some as imperious and condescending.
“The responsibility of the
people is simply to vote for the party, not the name of the candidate,” she was
quoted as saying by Radio Free Asia.
“The N.L.D. is a political party, and we have rules,” she said.
“If you can’t follow these rules, you can’t work for the N.L.D.”
The party also ordered candidates not to speak with the media,
saying it could jeopardize their chances during the vetting process by the
election commission. Critics saw it as a gag order.
At a time when the party needs unity more than ever, stalwarts
like Mr. Myo Khin, the longtime democracy activist, are angry. His involvement
in the movement began 27 years ago when a fellow proponent of democracy was
shot by the military and died in his arms.
When the party leadership passed him over as the candidate in
his home district in Yangon , he quit the party and signed up to run as an independent.
Another longtime party activist in an adjoining district, Daw
Khin Phone Wai, 44, also left the party and is running as an independent. She
still admires Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi but says she worries that she is increasingly
seen as detached from the people.
“She has knowledge about international things, and she speaks
foreign languages,” Ms. Khin Phone Wai said. “But she cannot relate to ordinary
people. People are facing hardship every day, and she can’t feel their needs.
She’s not in touch with the people at the bottom.”
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters overseas have been dismayed by her silence and inaction over the plight of the Rohingya, a
Muslim minority who are being excluded from voting. But in Myanmar
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar
Analysts believe that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi will continue to
benefit from the popular hatred of the military, which built up over decades of
misrule. But gauging her popularity has proved difficult. In a recent opinion
poll, half of respondents refused to disclose whom they would vote for.
U Yan Myo Thein, a political
analyst, said that the democracy movement has strong support in cities and
towns but that winning in rural areas, which make up 70 percent of the elected
seats in Parliament, will be more challenging.
The freedoms introduced by the
military-backed government of PresidentThein
Sein, including the ending of direct media censorship, have lifted a
once palpable sense of fear in the cities. But in rural areas the military and
their proxies still retain significant control.
“The level of fear for
the authorities is very high in the village areas,” Mr. Yan Myo Thein said.
Under the current system the deck is stacked against the
democracy movement: The country’s Constitution, written by the military junta
before it handed over power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011, allocates
one quarter of the seats in Parliament to the military. This means democratic
forces, if they do not ally themselves with the army, must gain two-thirds of
the elected seats to have a simple majority. Around 40 percent of the seats are
in minority ethnic areas, which tend to back their own parties, and democracy
activists lament that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has not formed closer alliances with
the groups.
The military’s top general chooses the ministers of home
affairs, defense and border security, no matter who wins the election.
Moreover, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by a
clause in the Constitution that disallows anyone with a foreign spouse or
children from becoming president, a rule that some say was written with her in
mind. Her husband, who died in 1999, was a British citizen, and so are their
two sons.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s critics acknowledge the uneven playing
field but say she has made a bad situation worse by antagonizing the military.
Her alliance with Thura Shwe Mann, a former general in the junta who leads one
faction of the military establishment but is widely disliked by other factions,
rattled the military’s top brass. Earlier this month Mr. Shwe Mann was purged as
the head of the Union Solidarity and Development Party by the president and his
backers in the military.
Daw Nyo Nyo Thin, an independent member of the Yangon regional Parliament, does not
trust the military, but says Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi should be courting them
because the military brass has veto power over major changes to the
Constitution that democratic forces desire.
“She must get on well with the military,” Ms. Nyo Nyo Thin said.
“Without the military in agreement we can never amend the Constitution.”
Ms. Nyo Nyo Thin predicts a messy election followed by months of
horse trading among ethnic groups, democratic forces and the military.
She says she has been “confused” by Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s
decisions in recent months.
Is the Nobel laureate authoritarian?
“We have many stories,” Ms. Nyo
Nyo Thin said. “But this is not the time to speak out.”
