Suu Kyi returns to hard graft of Myanmar politics

After a triumphant European tour where she was lauded by crowds, stars and heads of state, Aung San Suu Kyi returns to the reality of Myanmar's politics this week when she makes her debut as a lawmaker.

The empty streets of the nation's purpose-built capital Naypyidaw are a far cry from Europe's cities where she was greeted by rock star Bono, honoured at Oxford University and praised for her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

But Naypyidaw will be the centre of attention on Wednesday when the opposition leader and her National League for Democracy (NLD) colleagues are set to take their seats in Myanmar's fledgling parliament.

The democracy champion, 67, and her NLD MPs were swept to parliament in landslide April by-elections, and expectations are high now she is at the locus of political power.

"She has now entered the field as an elected politician to help guide (Myanmar's) next steps toward a secure, democratic, just and prosperous future," Derek Mitchell, the future US ambassador in Yangon, told a US Senate committee this week.

Despite the significance of her ascension from political prisoner to parliament, the opposition leader will enjoy a reduced status from that granted to her in Europe -- where she was welcomed as a head of state.

She now needs to work hand-in-hand with the reformist government led by former general Thein Sein.

The military still dominates parliament, holding a quarter of the seats, with an overwhelming majority of the remaining MPs drawn from the party created by the former junta, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

"She will still have opportunities to make speeches and statements... and try to influence things there, but she won't have much authority," said Trevor Wilson, a former Australian ambassador to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

"She has a role of leader of the opposition and member of the parliament. She is not the government."

While she was away, Thein Sein's cabinet "was clearly trying to give the impression that they were getting on with the job," Wilson said, adding that some in the regime "weren't very happy with the adulation that she received."

Suu Kyi is widely regarded in the West as Myanmar's leader-in-waiting, and before she left Paris on Friday she confirmed her leadership aspirations to AFP, saying "any party leader must be prepared for this possibility".

The military are "still the strongest, but ultimately it is the Burmese people who must decide what direction they want for the country", she added.
The NLD is dedicated to this goal.

"We assume that we will win the majority" in 2015, NLD MP Win Htein told AFP. "However, we have to amend (the constitution) gradually... so that Aung San Suu Kyi can become the president."

After her return on Saturday from the exhausting tour, Suu Kyi has a few days to rest and prepare for her scheduled date at Wednesday's parliament session.

As an MP her daily work will be dominated by issues including the economic recovery, the fair distribution of oil and gas revenues and the health and education sectors, according to Win Min, a US-based Myanmar researcher at the Vahu Development Institute.

But she will also be thinking about the longer term political future.

"The challenge for her is how to earn confidence from the military leadership, and to compromise with the current government leaders to make sure they will transfer power once she wins," Win Min said.

At least, that's what her supporters want her to achieve. "She's the Mandela of our time."

Suu Kyi's history as an activist and political prisoner chimes with the experience of the South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela -- who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize two years after her, in 1993.

But some analysts urge caution over raising expectations too high as Suu Kyi steps into the uncertain terrain of Myanmar's political reforms, with major pitfalls ahead -- including the claims of the nation's myriad ethnic groups.

"Western leaders have revived the iconic status of Aung San Suu Kyi and seem to see in her the only Burmese figure capable of guiding the country's democratisation," said Renaud Egreteau, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong.

"They'd better not forget that Myanmar is much more diverse."

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