Aung San Suu Kyi - saviour or inaccessible demigod?

Questions surround the stability of the splintered opposition ahead of Burma's elections

By Esmer Golluoglu, guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 March 2012 20.16 BST ...


It is the election that the world hopes will usher in democracy to a nation that has lived
under five decades of military rule and legitimise the reforms that have taken place since Thein Sein became president in 2010.
A man holds a portrait of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an election rally. Photograph: Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images

But questions surround both the longevity of the reforms – spearheaded by the former soldier but unlikely to have the full support of the military-backed government – and the stability of the opposition which is splintered among many groups. Its best-known party is headed by 66-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi – who fell ill during the campaign and was forced to rest.

Like many elections, it is likely to come down to personalities. Aung San Suu Kyi spent many years living outside of Burma, but she is idolised not only for her many years of house arrest after she returned but also for being the daughter of General Aung San, an independence fighter who is revered as a national hero.

For opposition party candidate Pyu Pyu, canvassing in Mayanqon, is competing not with Aung San Suu Kyi herself, but with the cult of her personality.

Critics complain that Aung San Suu Kyi has become too much of an inaccessible demigod, placed on a pedestal by her NLD party where she has increasingly little access to the people she hopes to serve, and who have too much faith in the change she may not be able to bring. But both Pyu Pyu and Aung San Suu Kyi have said that winning the 1 April election is of less significance than politicising the Burmese people, who are only just now being introduced to a world of democracy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/30/aung-san-suu-kyi-saviour-demigod