HONG KONG -- On May 7, Vietnam inadvertently hindered 50 million Myanmarese from learning that "at last Aung Sang Suu Kyi is no longer under house arrest." The Myanmar government's authoritarian habits prevailed at the very moment when hopes of future democracy were reborn.
All over the world, Suu Kyi's "release" was headlined, but not in her own country. There, in the main Burmese- and English-language press, the top headlines were reserved for visiting Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong, as he met the country's ruling generals.
At long last, Suu Kyi, the duly elected leader of Myanmar, was no longer under house arrest. She was free to travel throughout her country and was free to start reorganizing her party, the National League for Democracy, or NLD, which won the 1990 election with 82 percent of the seats.