Myanmar (Call It Burma) Turns Back : Opposition Wins Election; Military Doesn’t Like It; Leader Stays in Jail

“Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”

It’s a poignant cry heard throughout Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, but the country’s military government has turned a deaf ear.

The ruling junta known as the State Law and Order Council refuses to free Suu Kyi, the charismatic leader of the main opposition party who was placed under house arrest a year ago. She remains imprisoned, although she has been charged with no crime. The military has sent troops and armored cars into the streets to quash calls for her freedom. The Burmese have been rallying for Suu Kyi’s release since her National League for Democracy overwhelmingly defeated the military regime in a May 27 election. The landslide victory stunned the military, which has yet to transfer power.

Suu Kyi’s return to Myanmar to care for her ailing mother two years ago touched off a string of pro-democracy demonstrations that led to her arrest for subversion. Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung San, who led the nation to its independence from Britain until his assassination in 1948, has become the symbol of the imprisoned will of the Burmese people.

There appeared some hope when the junta allowed the first multi-party election in May after 30 years. But the hope was short-lived. The military first delayed official election results for more than a month.

It repeatedly has refused requests by the League to discuss an orderly transfer of government. The military says a meeting will come “in due course” or “when the time is right.”

Western diplomats say such a meeting may not occur until fall or later, when the military allows the Parliament elected in May to meet.

Suu Kyi’s continued imprisonment will not check the popular opposition to nearly three decades of iron-fisted military rule, years during which the once-prosperous Myanmar was destroyed and turned into a hermit state riddled with drug trafficking and a bankrupt economy.

Washington, which until recently offered Myanmar a small but significant amount of aid, should make it clear to the military that this is no way to treat a leader--or develop into a democracy.