US skeptical about Myanmar polls without Aung San Suu Kyi

The United States expressed skepticism over the outcome of the 2010 elections in Myanmar if opposition leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi will be barred from participating in the polls. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Suu Kyi’s detention for many years under Myanmar’s military junta is “baseless" and not founded on any concern except her leadership of the opposition party. “I will underscore the skepticism about an election that does not include all the people or their representatives who are in the opposition," Clinton said in a press briefing in Malacañang on Thursday afternoon. Clinton, who is on a 24-hour visit in the Philippines, said a US team headed by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Deputy Assistant Secretary Scott Marciel met at length with Burmese government officials recently. They also met in an unmonitored setting with Suu Kyi and her partymates. According to Clinton, it is an essential first step for Myanmar to conduct an internal dialogue with all the stakeholders in order to have free and credible elections. “It’s up to the individuals to decide who runs and who doesn’t, but there should be no doubt the US wants to see an open free credible election process and that’s what we are calling on from the leadership of Burma, but we don’t believe we can cause that to happen from the outside," Clinton added. Clinton said the US, which has issued trade sanctions on Myanmar’s government, will not directly intervene in the conduct of elections in the Southeast Asian nation. But it is calling on allies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), including the Philippines, to persuade Myanmar’s leadership to enter a dialogue with its constituents and create conditions for legitimate elections. Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi has been detained for a total of 14 years, and has not been able to speak publicly since she was last taken into detention in May 2003. A court recently sentenced the 64-year-old opposition leader to an additional 18 months of house arrest for briefly sheltering an uninvited American, in a trial that drew global condemnation. The latest arrest order would prevent her from participating in next year's elections — the first in two decades — unless she is granted a special release. Temporary freedom for Suu Kyi? But a senior Myanmar diplomat earlier hinted that the ruling junta party may free Suu Kyi in time for the 2010 elections there. Min Lwin, a director-general in the Foreign Ministry, told the Associated Press that the imprisoned opposition leader may be given a chance to participate in next year’s polls. "There is a plan to release her soon ... so she can organize her party," he told the AP on Monday at the Manila airport before boarding a flight to Singapore en route to Yangon. He refused to elaborate, and it was not clear if he meant that Suu Kyi would be allowed to campaign. There is also no indication that the government would allow Suu Kyi to run in the election. Myanmar's constitution includes provisions that bar Suu Kyi from holding office and ensure the military a controlling stake in government. Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, has not yet decided whether to take part in the polls, which it says would be held under a constitution established last year by undemocratic means. - GMANews.TV with an AP report