(Interview) – Aung San Suu Kyi recently celebrated her 66th birthday with a youth music competition at the National League for Democracy headquarters in Rangoon. In a recent interview with Rebecca Henschke of Asia Calling, the KBR 68H Indonesian radio station, she talked about youth in Burma and the improvements in communications today.

Question: What has been happening on your birthday?

Answer: On my birthday there will be a number of things happening. The main thing will be the finals of a music competition for young people; this is to make the young people understand that they always have something to celebrate in life and also to give them an opportunity to practice their talents. And the music that you hear in the background now is part of the competition; we are still in the process of reaching the semi-finals.

Q. And with that competition will the young people be able to sing about politics or human rights when they perform?

A: So far most of the songs that I have seen are about human rights and politics.

Q: And will they be performing these songs in public?

A: Yes, these have all been performed at the office quite openly and the finals will take place quite openly on my birthday and everyone who wants to come is free to come and listen.

Q: When we have been speaking to some young Burmese people who have come to Jakarta they have talked about a apathy or a lack of interest among young people about politics in Burma–do you get a sense of that?

A: There are some young people who are not interested but there are those who are very interested indeed. So I think it depends on what young people you are talking about. It is true that some of those who belong to the privilege circles who are not interested in democracy are also not interested in politics and then there are also young people who have to work so hard for their living that they can’t think of anything more than their day-to-day work. But increasingly we find that young people are beginning to realize that if their lives are unsatisfactory then they have to do something to change it.

Q: The idea of young people singing about politics on your birthday seems like a significant change.

A: Our young people have always been singing about democracy and human rights. We have always tried to do what we believe we should do in spite of all the oppression and in spite of all the restrictions under which we have to operate. The difference now is that there are more young people that want to take part.

Q: More young people than say at the peak of the monks' uprising?

A: I don’t know about that because I was under house arrest then but certainly more than eight years ago when I was put under my last term of house arrest.

Q: What are some of the other significant changes you have seen since that period that you were out of the picture?

A: The improvement in communication to do with the IT revolution of course, it has found its way to Burma. Although we can’t say that we are as far forward as other countries still the communication revolution has come to Burma to some degree and that is why more young people are interested in what we are doing because they are better able to keep track of what we are doing.

Q: You have been using video links and other digital ways to get your message out. Are you not free to travel around Burma or to other country to Thailand or China for example to lobby your cause?

A: I will be travelling around Burma sometime next month. The reason why I have not made any trips outside of Rangoon before now is simply because I have had too much work to do here. But we have been trying to make time for me to travel outside Rangoon and we are going to start next month. As for travelling out of Burma I think it’s a little too early for that. I don’t think I can count on the current government to let me come back if I travelled abroad.

Q: But you are free to travel around Burma without restrictions?

A: I don’t know if they will try and impose restrictions, that is entirely up to them but I think I have the right to travel freely in my own country.

Q: In what area do you think you have achieved the most since you were released?

A: I think the thing that has encouraged me the most is the speed with which our network for democracy has expanded all other the country in regards to young people and education….Many things health, education, lawyers’ network but particularly education.

Q: What kind of things can you explain a little bit more?

A: We have started a number of free schools and these have expanded at a rate which I had not expected, very, very quickly. These tools are popular because education in Burma is expensive even though it’s a poor country and government education does not come free of charge and we are trying to provide free education to the people who can’t afford for their children to go to school.

Q: Do you think that this approach of dealing with social issues will eventually lead to democracy in Burma?

A: What it is supposed to do is to make people understand that they have to do what they want to do. They should not depend on other people. It’s to give them a sense of independence and to decrease their sense of dependence at the same time empowering them.

Q: Do you feel as if there is too much dependence on you to create change in Burma as a symbol and also as person?

A: Well the purpose of the network is to make people understand that they should not sit and expect others to do things for them but they should do things for themselves.

Q: We are seeing a lot of change in the Middle East at the moment- is that getting coverage in Burma?

A: I think there is a certain amount of censorship about events in the Middle East but most people who are interested in politics know about it because these days if you are really interested you can get all the information you need via the radio or internet.

Q: Is there a sense that it’s having an inspiring affect?

A: People wonder if the same thing could happen in Burma and people tend to compare what is happening in the Middle East with events in Burma in 1988 and 2007.

Q: The big question that our listeners always ask at forums about Burma is - how can outsiders help in the fight for democracy in Burma?

A: First of all, we need to keep up awareness about what is going on in Burma. We are particularly concerned that people should not be taken in by the elections that happened last November and it should not be taken for granted that there were elections and there is a so-called civilian government that there is nothing more that needs to be done in Burma. In fact a lot more needs to be done in Burma and I am sure that you would have heard that within the last few days hostiles have broken out between the Kachin independence organization and the Burmese army. Now that is a regression because there has been a cease-fire agreement for the last nearly 20 years but hostiles have now broken again. So I don’t think we can take it for granted that we making progress towards peace and democracy.

Q: This fighting is taking place in a strategic region where China is building several hydropower plants. What do you know about the situation there?

A: We don’t know anything more than what we hear on the radio news. We do hear what is going on at the border on the radio, and we have heard from Kachin leaders say they would like China to intervene.

Q: We are getting reports that the conflict is driving thousands of ethnic civilians to flee to Thailand and China. And it seems Thailand doesn't want to receive any more refugees from Burma and there are reports that in the last three days China is refusing to allow these refugees to cross the border. Is there anything you want to say to neighboring countries?

A: Yes, the first thing I would like to say is that refugees don’t want to be refugees they have become refugees out of sheer need because there is no way they could avoid the situation. If they don’t want more refugees coming into the country then I think they should try to help Burma to settle its internal affairs peacefully which is what we have been trying to do for the last twenty years.

Q: Do you think that if the military government fell the different ethnic groups inside Burma would unite?

A: Unity is something you have to work very, very hard at particularly if there are different ethnic nationalities. I don’t think that it will come about over night and it’s something we have to keep working towards all the time and shooting at each other is not the solution.

Q: So would you suggest that these groups should take a more peaceful approach? Do you support their armed movement?

A: I don’t think it all rests on the ethnic minorities. I think it’s very much the responsibility of the government after all they are the ones who can decide if there is a ceasefire in the country or not.

Q: Do you think that there needs to be a more military-style uprising against the government rather than this peaceful soft approach?

A: I don’t think that ‘peaceful soft approach’ is not quite the right way to put it—peaceful yes but it does not have to be soft. I think it was Gandhi who said that it takes more courage to use non-violent methods than to use violence because you have to work a lot harder. Just because we are choosing the path of peace does not mean we are choosing the soft option.

Q: In terms of listeners in Thailand and India whose countries are involved in economic projects like the deep-sea port in Burma, what role could civil groups in those countries have in putting pressure on their governments in terms of their economic deals with Burma?

A: I think if they could persuade their governments to take a more responsible broader view of the situation because your short-term gains can turn out to be a danger for the long term. I think the most important thing between two countries is not how the governments get on but how the people get on in the long run. And I think if they can make their government see that good relations between the two peoples depends very much on fair play.

Q: What you’re seeing at the moment you would not describe as far play? There is no benefit for the Burmese people from these developments?

A: It’s not really fair. It does benefit some people in Burma but I don’t think it is benefiting the great majority of the people of Burma.

Q: And Aung San Suu Kyi just finally if you could have a birthday wish what would it be?

A: Oh it’s very simple. It’s the wish that I think all of us have been wishing for a long time...we would like national reconciliation to come as soon as possible.

Q: And do you think that is possible? Can you see a day that this would come true?

A: I very much hope so! We believe that as much as we work so shall we depend on success and we work very, very hard.

Q: Someone has asked me to ask you what makes you laugh?

A: Oh, lots of things make me laugh! Sometimes even the things that this government does make me laugh because it’s sometimes so ridiculous and you have to laugh that you may not weep.