Why Did The Generals Release Ms Suu Kyi

So why have the military leaders of Burma let Aung San Suu Kyi out of detention where she has been for most of the past twenty years. In the past in military goverment has never been short of reasons to detain their most famous political opponent.

In 2008 the military sentenced Ms. Suu Kyi to a further eighteen months detention because, unbeknown to her, and American swam across a lake towards her home. If this offence was worthy of an eighteen month detention then the generals could easily find enough reasons to continue her house arrest for the foreseeable future.

However she was released without any conditions on the day that the extended sentence ended, and without any comment from the military government. This makes it difficult to reason the motives of the generals and to do so is purely speculation and guesswork.

The recent election in Burma was the first in twenty years, when Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won the elections but were denied taking office by the military. This time round parties linked to the military won more than 80% of the vote in an election seen by the international community as a complete sham and riddled with corruption and ballot rigging.

Described as the first step towards democracy, the election result ensures the generals remain in power for over five years. But was the election arranged to coincide with the planned release of Aung San Suu Kyi. Was her release planned in detail so as to deflect international criticism of the election result away from the generals and turn the spotlight on the release of the world’s most famous political prisoner.

By introducing “democracy” the ruling generals may have shown a chink in there armour giving political aspirations to other senior military figures. In releasing Ms Suu Kyi the leaders have presented their possible rivals with an opposition that will bind those senior military figures together against a common enemy.

Possibly it was pressure from members of Asean, the Southeast Asia group, who find the continued detention of Ms Suu Kyi as an embarrassment. Doubtful, as the generals have not been persuaded by their partners before. Or maybe with an election completed the generals wanted to clean up their act. Again doubtful as they had never cared much about international opinion in the past.

Maybe they have released “The Lady” as she is known to appease the international community but with the intention of re-arresting her once international attention is diverted elsewhere.

Ms. Suu Kyi subscribes to the theory that the military government had simply run out of excuses to detain her any further. Possibly, but as we know the generals have found the slightest off reasons or excuses to impose a further detention order in the past.

The supreme commander in Burma, General Than Shwe, has controlled the government for many years and so clearly knows what he is about. He no doubt has a long-term strategy in dealing with Ms. Suu Kyi and has not as yet revealed his hand but the risks to him and his fellow generals is huge.

At 65 years old Ms.Suu Kyi is not a young lady but she still has the energy, determination and respect of the people to do the right thing for them and for Burma. Since her release she has carefully chosen her words and has been compromising and conciliatory at the same time but it is clear that she will challenge the generals in the near future.

We can only now wait and see how the generals handle Ms. Suu Kyi and the threat that she may offer to their established positions. It has been reported that many hundreds of lower-ranked soldiers travel to Rangoon to witness the release of Ms. Suu Kyi. Is this the first sign of support from within the military to Ms. Suu Kyi and democracy within Burma.