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NY Times March 14, 2013
Burmese Laureate Heckled Over Backing Copper Mine
By THOMAS FULLER
YANGON, Myanmar — Hundreds of angry farmers heckled and walked out on
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese politician and Nobel laureate, during
a visit on Thursday to villages in central Myanmar that might be
displaced by a copper mine.
The hostile reception, a stark contrast to the adoring crowds that
greeted her after her release from house arrest more than two years ago,
underscores the rockiness of her transition from international symbol to
elected official.
Frustration with her has been building from groups in the country who
say she often sides with the establishment, including the powerful
military, that held her for most of two decades and brutalized the
country for five.
“All we had to eat was boiled rice when we voted for you,” said Daw Pu,
a farmer who confronted Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday. “But you are
not standing with us anymore.”
Significant in a country where ethnicity normally carries major weight,
the villagers were from her own ethnic group, the majority Burman.
They have been protesting the expansion of the mine, which would force
them off their land. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi traveled to the area in an
attempt to convince the farmers to cease their protests and make way for
the mine, which is partly owned by the Myanmar military.
Aung Zaw, the editor of the widely-read Burmese online news journal
Irrawaddy, said that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s stance on the copper mine
signaled “a new era in Burmese politics.”
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, he wrote, “can no longer count on Burma’s people
to believe her when she says that everything she does is in their best
interests.”
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi remains widely admired in the country, formerly
known as Burma, for her stubborn campaign against military rule and her
sacrifices during her years of house arrest. But in recent months she
has alienated some supporters with public expressions of admiration for
the military and silence on the army’s shelling and airstrikes against
the Kachin ethnic minority group.
The dispute over the copper mine centers on an unresolved but crucial
question for the country: how to handle the legacy of five decades of
military dictatorship.
No one has been held accountable for the sins of the past: the bloody
crackdowns on protesters, the jailing of dissidents and the ruinous
economic management by the military, including many business deals
signed in secrecy.
The mine is run by a joint venture, formed in 2010, between the Myanmar
military and a subsidiary of a Chinese arms manufacturer. Its expansion
will bury surrounding villages and rice paddies with mine tailings.
The standoff over the mine has attracted national attention partly
because it has come to symbolize widespread land seizures in Myanmar.
The issue, a major problem for the civilian government of President
Thein Sein, pits destitute farmers against powerful interests, including
the military and their favored businessmen.
An attempt in November by the government to disperse protesters from the
mine, which is outside the central city of Monywa, backfired when dozens
of Buddhist monks, revered in this country, were severely burned by
white phosphorus smoke grenades deployed by the police. The devices are
normally reserved for warfare, not riot control.
The news media in Myanmar was filled with images of the monks’ injuries.
To counter the uproar, President Thein Sein appointed Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi to lead an official investigation into the mine and the episode.
Her findings were released Tuesday. Infuriating the villagers, the
report did not hold anyone responsible for using the phosphorus devices
but recommended better training for riot control. It said that the
copper mine expansion should proceed, but that the joint venture company
should offer more compensation.
Before she left the area on Thursday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was asked by
reporters to comment on the hostile reaction she received.
“I have never done anything just for popularity,” she said. “Sometimes
politicians have to do things that people dislike.”
Wai Moe contributed reporting from Monywa, Myanmar.
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