NOVEMBER 15, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 19

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	ALSO IN TIME
	Burma: Signs of Hope? Burma's ruling junta continues to squabble with Aung San Suu Kyi, but the generals now seem more attentive to international calls for reform Aung San Suu Kyi: 'This government is not capable of running the economy' Online Exclusive: Full text of TIME's interview with Aung San Suu Kyi Win Aung: 'Sincerity is needed on their side' Online Exclusive: Full text of TIME's interview with Foreign Minister Win Aung
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TIME: Many observers thought that this withdrawal of investment, together with sanctions against new investments and aid, might have put enough pressure on the government to cause it to bend. Is there any evidence this is happening?
Suu Kyi: You want an interesting piece on these developments but that's not how politics works. Sometimes things move in a rather imperceptible way. There are no fireworks, and then comes a time when change comes unexpectedly. Sometimes change comes with a lot of fireworks, but not always.

TIME: I guess I would infer then that nothing is moving.
Suu Kyi: I am not saying that. I am only saying that if fireworks are what you are after, you will not see them. That's not the way things go all the time. But if you were to study the situation in Burma really carefully, I think you would find that things have changed considerably in the last few years. Apart from anything else, people have stopped crediting this government with the ability to run the economy. Two or three years ago there were some governments who wanted to believe that maybe the military regime was capable of running things. Now I think they all agree that this government is not capable of running the economy. And whatever they may say about sanctions--that's a different matter. The reason why people don't invest is because they have now seen that their investments will not pay off in a situation where there is no proper framework for sustained development. The World Bank itself came to the conclusion that the problems of this economy are due to the way policy is made.

TIME: I've heard there was a very recent World Bank report that was very scathing in its criticism of economic policymaking here.
Suu Kyi: Yes.

TIME: Does the fact that certain governments which might have thought that the government was capable of running the economy have now changed their minds give you some satisfaction that your strategy of trying to discourage investment is working?
Suu Kyi: We believe it is right, and mind you, it is working, not just because of what we are doing, but because of the inefficiency of this government. A lot of people have decided not to invest because this regime does not know how to run the economy, not because we have asked them not to invest. In the end I think businessmen will come in here if they think there are profits to be made, whatever we may say. The reason they are not coming in now is because they are convinced that there is not much in it for them under the present circumstances.

TIME: One of the motives behind some governments' feelings that perhaps there should be another try at getting some increase in the flow of funds, at least for humanitarian causes, is the fear of China.
Suu Kyi: That is an old argument, and it is always the same governments that bring it up, so it's a little bit tedious to take up that argument again and again.

TIME: Does the so-called China threat scare you?
Suu Kyi: What do they mean by the "China threat" to begin with? There are those who say there are so many Chinese people investing in Burma, and if we don't come in, more Chinese will come in. The reason why so many Chinese are investing in Burma is because of their geographical position. There are many Chinese investing in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. So what's new? If they are talking about the fact that this government has good relations with the Chinese government, every single Burmese government has managed to maintain good relations with the Chinese government. This foreign policy of maintaining good relations with our neighbors--India, China and Thailand--was laid down at the very beginning by our first independent government, which was, by the way, a democratic government. So it's not the military that has achieved good relations with China. That was something that was achieved and laid down strongly by a democratic government on the principle that we need to maintain good relations with our neighbors. It's a good policy, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the next democratic government that comes in will have similarly good relations with our neighbors--perhaps even better ones. We would not abuse our neighbors the way the SPDC sometimes does when there is a dispute.

TIME: As recently was the case in Thailand?
Suu Kyi: We would not do that, because we don't think there is anything to be gained by being unnecessarily nasty.

TIME: And yet you were one of the first to come out and denounce the violence against the Burmese Embassy in Thailand.
Suu Kyi: We are against violence because we think violence begets violence. And we look at it with a long-term point of view. We are not looking at it just in terms of the next month or the next year. We are looking at it in terms of the future of our country, and we think that for the future of our country it is not a good idea to encourage violence. After all, we have had repeated experiences with political change brought about by guns and bombs, and I think it is time to put an end to that. We try to explain the reasons why we have stood up against violence because we want to get away from this vicious cycle whereby everyone who wants political change tries to have superior armed power over the others. This is not what we want.

TIME: One element of the China threat appears to be the growing network of infrastructure which China is financing, which will culminate in the development of a deep-water port for China's use on the Bay of Bengal. How do you look at these developments?
Suu Kyi: Of course we are concerned about any foreign venture in our country. We have to be, whether it is China, Thailand, India, or a country that is not one of our neighbors. We must be concerned about what role they are playing in the development of our country.

TIME: But does this Chinese-financed infrastructure seem sinister?
Suu Kyi: I don't think this is then a reason for people to say we should therefore help the SPDC more. I think that is just an excuse. If they see it as a threat, there are other ways they should go about trying to change the situation.

TIME: What, for example, should people do?
Suu Kyi: People should be concerned about installing a more sensible, responsible government. We've always said that what we need is a government that is accountable and transparent, so that the people know what it is doing and can judge for themselves whether or not they like what is being done.

TIME: How many of your elected NLD parliament members are still in detention?
Suu Kyi: I think over 40 at the last count. Not all of them are in detention, there are some in prison.

TIME: How many party members are still incarcerated?
Suu Kyi: We've always said that the number of political prisoners is somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000, and from what the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] has said recently, it seems to think it is somewhere over 1,000, so that is close to our estimates.

TIME: Do you look upon the entry of the ICRC to Burma as a welcome development?

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