Suu Kyi (Public domain; source:
Wikimedia commons) KUALA LUMPUR, 21 May 2009: DAP Wanita said the latest charges brought by the Myanmar junta against the country’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was not only an oppression of democracy, but a form of repression towards women as well.
DAP Wanita chairperson Chong Eng urged the Malaysian government to continue pressing for dialogue with Myanmar’s military junta to pressure for Suu Kyi’s immediate release.
“Her house imprisonment and the latest charges of infringement [are] not only a sacrilege towards democracy everywhere but a form of feudalistic oppression towards women who are in power,” said Chong in a statement yesterday.
She said DAP Wanita also called on Asean, which called for Suu Kyi’s immediate release yesterday, to go a step further, that is to suspend Myanmar’s membership from the association until democracy is restored in the country.
Chong said the recent atrocious charges against Suu Kyi will be seen as a continuous attempt by the military junta to suppress the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader’s freedom and voice.
Chong Chong, who is also Bukit Mertajam Member of Parliament, added that the NLD was the rightful ruling party based on the result of the Myanmar 1990 general election.
“The latest act only added to the grievous injustice done towards Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar, whose right to determine their government, and therefore the fate of their own country, is severely suppressed,” said Chong.
Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 years over the past two decades. The Nobel Peace Laureate‘s house imprisonment was supposed to end on 27 May. But a bizarre incident where she gave shelter to an American man who swam across a lake to her home before swimming back and getting arrested, has led to the latest charges against Suu Kyi.
“It is a shame for a military junta to use such an unreasonable force on a democratically elected woman leader for so many years when she has practically no weapon and no way to fight a fair war against them,” said Chong. 
