Burma/Myanmar

Abstract

The government of Myanmar formally permits a multiparty system. However, the only party of significance is the National League for Democracy (NLD) under the leadership of its Secretary General, 53-year-old Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Daw Suu Kyi leads a precarious political and personal life. Denied access to the Burmese public, Daw Suu Kyi's strategy is to engage the government with a ceaseless and brilliant public relations campaign largely exercised in the foreign media. The junta draws on her gender and marriage to a Westerner to undermine her standing in its efforts to resist change. Daw Suu Kyi remains popular with the poor, but her support among the middle classes seems to be weakening and the likelihood of mass civil disorder if anything were to happen to her has receded as economic conditions have worsened and a climate of fear intensified. The article considers the prospects for change in Myanmar and suggests that the State Peace and Development Council, as the junta is now termed, could be more menacing to Myanmar's future than the State Law and Order Restoration Council which preceded it.