Remember Aung San Suu Kyi? She’s the Burmese Opposition leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for non-violent activism and remains under house arrest in Rangoon as she has for most of the past fifteen years.
Under international pressure the generals who run Burma with a brutal hand may be
preparing to release her later this month and they say they’ll hold a constitutional convention in May as part of what they say is a “roadmap to democracy”.
But can the generals be trusted? Foreign Correspondent reveals new details of the plot to kill the leader of the National League for Democracy just on a year ago.
In May 2003 Suu Kyi and her supporters set out on a road tour of Burma. Everywhere she went huge crowds gathered – testament to the passion she still generates among Burmese people.
Combining amateur videotape of Suu Kyi’s tour with interviews with her bodyguard and aides the ABC’s South East Asia Correspondent Peter Lloyd has built up the most complete account yet of how “Aunty Suu”, as she’s known, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
From the 24th of May onwards military intelligence agents shadowing Suu Kyi’s tour and engineered confrontations with her supporters. As Suu Kyi’s convoy reached the outskirts of the town of Depayin it was ambushed by a large mob, organised by Military Intelligence, who were wielding sticks and clubs
Suu Kyi’s bodyguard, Khin Oo told Lloyd: “The situation was very chaotic and frightening. The tail lights and rear windshield of Suu Kyi’s care was smashed. ‘Aunty’ was injured on here left shoulder and the left side of her neck “
Over Suu Kyi’s protests that she shouldn’t flee her driver accelerated towards a barbed wire barricade. A witness to the incident, Naing Naing said, “when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car got away I heard the voice giving orders saying ‘fire’ and ten to fifteen gunshots were fired. “
Naing Naing told Lloyd from the sanctuary of Thailand that the order to fire on Suu Kyi’s car came from a man referred to as “major”. “It was definitely military. Yes definitely involving government and military. His was meant to kill our leader. To kill the leader of the entire people – I can express this from witnessing the scene,” Naing Naing said.
Next month the military regime in Burma will kick start a seven-step reform process it says will lead to democracy. The first step on this so called ‘roadmap to democracy’ is the reconvening of a national convention that will re draft the country’s constitution..
Now at the same time the un is hinting that the regime may also set free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who’s been in jail or under house arrest since violent clashes in northern Burma last may. Despite this new mood of optimism the regime still has many questions to answer about that day now known as the Black Friday massacre.Tonight foreign correspondent will reveal for the first time evidence of direct military involvement in the attack whose purpose was intended to assassinate Suu Kyi
Lloyd: Last may huge crowds turned out in Burma to greet the country’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
00:00
These remarkable pictures show the passions she still generates despite spending most of the last 14 years in detention.
00:17
Suu Kyi: We should never forget that this country belongs to all of its citizens.
00:29
Lloyd: The people’s response to Suu Kyi rattled the military dictators in Rangoon.
00:33
A few days after these pictures were taken government-backed thugs attacked the opposition leader’s convoy, leaving dozens dead.
Lloyd: This man called Naing Naing was there on the night.Naing Naing: When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car got away, I heard the voice giving orders say “Fire!” and 10 to 15 gunshots were fired.
00:56
They shot this car – Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car.
01:13
Khin Oo: There were a lot of people there.
01:33
Lloyd: Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal bodyguard on the trip was Khin Oo.
Nyunt Nyunt, is a senior member of the opposition who joined the convoy.
01:42
Nyunt Nyunt: Who are those people? Khin Oo: They are military intelligence.
Lloyd: Watching the videotape back again they can see early signs of trouble
01:56
Khin Oo: There’s Aunty Suu, do you see her? Look at the flowers on the car, many people tried to give her flowers.
Khin Oo: The people’s response to her was both happy and sad. Many people tried to give her flowers. And when they couldn’t reach her they tossed them at her.
02:21
Lloyd: The military were anxiously watching Suu Kyi and the adoring crowd.
02:37
On May the 24th, they engineered the first confrontation between a militia of government supporters and the opposition.
The following day, opposition cameras recorded the menacing presence of military intelligence. Suu Kyi demanded they back off.
03:13
Suu Kyi: The authorities should understand the meaning of justice and should execute their duty. If they can’t even understand the meaning of justice how can they rule the country?
03:24
Lloyd: Instead the military turned up the pressure, sending stooges into the crowd to taunt and chant anti-Suu Kyi slogans.A rally at the next township was interrupted by buses loaded with jeering civil servants, sent to provoke yet another disturbance.Suu Kyi supporters soon turned on the government workers and chased them away. Two days later, after more rowdy interruptions, she called her security team together and gave them strict instructions.Khin Oo: From the morning of the 29th, when we start out on our journey,
03:42
we have to be very mindful -- if they insulted us verbally or beat us with sticks we must not respond. We should not resist at all. She spoke often about this, but she stressed it on the night of the 28th.
04:27
Lloyd: The following day, the security team arranged for supporters to form a motorcycle cordon around the convoy.
05:00
Backers of the regime meanwhile were making their presence felt from the roadside. Mingling in the crowd were some hostile faces.
05:18
At nightfall on may the 29th, the convoy rolled into Monywa township. This time the regime tried a new spoiling tactic to stop another political rally. They turned off the town’s power supply.Khin Oo: When the people in Monywa
05:38
realised that the electricity had been cut, everyone lit candles so it looked like there was still power.
05:55
Lloyd: Despite this harassment, Suu Kyi urged her followers to remain calm.
06:09
Suu Kyi: Patience on the part of the people is a good quality. Patience means that the country can be peaceful. But that doesn’t mean that you should put your head down meekly, and accept what’s meted out to you. Your head is for thinking and for looking up -- but this is a time when you’re not even allowed to look up.
06:15
Lloyd: It was the last act of defiance the dictators would suffer.
06:40
These illustrations based on witness testimony show what happened the next evening. On the outskirts of Depayin, a group appeared in the middle of the road.
06:48
Khin Oo: Two monks approached and stopped Aung San Suu Kyi’s car and requested that she give a speech. Suu Kyi agreed to speak, but asked the monks to move the crowd.
06:59
Lloyd: The ploy was the trigger for an ambush. A large mob wielding sticks and clubs poured from the vehicles at the rear of the convoy and began attacking the opposition leader’s car.
07:14
Khin Oo: The situation was very chaotic and frightening. The tail lights and rear windshield of Aung San Suu Kyi’s car were smashed. The back frame of the car was also smashed
07:26
Lloyd: Several blows landed on the leader known simply as ‘aunty’.
07:43
“Aunty” was injured on her left shoulder and the left side of her neck.
07:49
The mob also turned on men, women and children in the convoy. Nyunt Nyunt was dragged from her car.
07:58
Nyunt Nyunt: When it was my turn to be beaten, they dragged me by the head. The car was a bit high and I fell down on to my shoulder. When I fell down on to the road, they dragged me about twenty feet and my blouse split open from the back, so I pulled my sarong up to cover my breasts.
While I was clutching my sarong, two monks from the side, one youth from the back and one at my feet beat me. Four in all beat me.
08:24
Lloyd: Nyunt Nyunt saw others from the convoy butchered.
08:37
Nyunt Nyunt: While they were beating me, I heard people cry out from the car in front of me that two people died. Meanwhile, I saw the driver of my car being beaten. He fell down from the car with his eyeball falling out, and he died
08:45
Lloyd: The security detail led by Khin Oo was convinced Suu Kyi would also be killed
09:06
The security group and I were shouting, “Aunty! Drive away, Aunty! Drive away!” And instead of running I heard her say “How can I run when the people are being beaten right in front of me?”
09:14
Lloyd: But Suu Kyi’s driver had other ideas. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and drove forward into a barbed-wire barricade. A volley of shots aimed at the car narrowly missed their mark..
09:35
Naing Naing: We were arrested in this compound. The attacker, they are waiting to attack Aung San Suu Kyi.
09:57
The drawing of Suu Kyi’s dramatic escape is based on the story of this man who stumbled on the scene before the trouble began.Naing Naing was seized by soldiers and thrown into a truck. It was a night he will never forget.
Naing Naing: My colleagues and I were often interrogated and many of us have been languishing in prisons in Mandalay and Rangoon for long periods of time because of our activities.
10:22
Lloyd: Naing Naing is the only witness to come forward so far who heard a man referred to as ‘major’ give the order to open fire on Aung San Suu Kyi.
10:37
Lloyd: It was definitely military. Naing Naing: Yes definitely involving government and military. 10:47
This was meant to kill our leader -- to kill the leader of the entire people. I can say this because I saw it happen.
10:53
Lloyd: This one shows the moment when she crashed through the barricade.
11:05
Lloyd: Naing Naing was briefly gaoled after the attack. The authorities set him free only after forcing him to sign secrecy documents.
11:09
Naing Naing: Each of us was given a document titled State Secrets. They warned us that the international media would exploit us regarding this incident. They told us, “We will take action against you if you speak out about this.”
11:18
Lloyd: Naing Naing fled across the border to Mae Sot in north western Thailand. It’ s too dangerous to go back to Burma and he lives in fear of regime death squads crossing the river to silence him. It’s a high price for speaking out, but one he hopes will be worth it.
11:49
Naing Naing: If Suu Kyi is allowed to travel freely and campaign, our Burmese people will be made more politically aware. Our people have been facing a lack of leadership which has made them helpless.
12:10
Lloyd: After the massacre, Burma’s government took to the world stage on a public relations charm offensive.
12:40
Foreign Minister: There will be signs of brutality everywhere, we’re not brutal people.
12:47
Let me say that we have loving kindness to everybody, everybody it means, you know, even creatures.
12:51
Lloyd: It was the job of foreign minister Win Aung to counter international outrage by peddling old, unfulfilled promises for free and fair elections.
13:04
Foreign Minister: Let me assure you again, what we are working for is a civilian government to emerge, not the military government to prolong its stay in power, we are not working for that, we are working for the emergence of a constitutional civilian government with the politicians playing their political rules, thank-you very much.
13:14
Lloyd: The regime will convene a national convention to draft a new -- and it claims -- more democratic constitution.
13:43
Aung San Suu Kyi quit the last attempt back in 1995 because it was rigged to give the regime legitimacy. In its latest ploy the military has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest while developing a divide and conquer strategy with other opposition groups.
13:56
The biggest obstacle to that objective lies across this river in the remote jungle of north-eastern Burma.This territory is a stronghold for soldiers of the rebel Karen National Union, or KNU.Well armed and disciplined, the KNU is the largest armed ethnic faction still fighting Rangoon’s rule.
14:20
The two sides have been waging war for 55 years generations of mutual suspicion and hatred divide these old foes.
14:51
Pado Mansha is the secretary general of the KNU.
15:01
Mansha: In the front line they kill people, they burn down the village, they take porters and kill porters in the front line. They use many child soldiers, they rape many women.
15:06
Lloyd: Convincing these soldiers to give up their armed struggle to attend the national convention would allow the regime to boast that it had won over all the significant factions, bar Suu Kyi and her party. But this divide and conquer strategy has one fatal flaw.The Karen won’t strike any deal unless the regime recognises their long time ally Aung San Suu Kyi, sets her free, and makes a series of major concessions:
15:25
Mansha: They must repeal the unjust laws against the people. For example, freedom of speech, freedom of publication, freedom of assembly -- these basic rights must be upheld.
15:56
Lloyd: For well over a decade the world has been calling on the military to hand over power to civilians.For just as many years the generals have followed a cheat and retreat strategy of promising democracy, then failing to deliver.For as long as Suu Kyi remains in detention it will look like business as usual for Burma’s strongmen.
16:20
In the coming weeks, the onus will be on them to prove the road map to democracy is more than just another trick to keep power at the expense of Burma’s long suffering people.
16:53
Reporter: Peter LloydCamera: David LelandEditor: John McElhinneyProducers: Vivien Altman and Jeannie Hallacy 17:10
Under international pressure the generals who run Burma with a brutal hand may be
preparing to release her later this month and they say they’ll hold a constitutional convention in May as part of what they say is a “roadmap to democracy”.
But can the generals be trusted? Foreign Correspondent reveals new details of the plot to kill the leader of the National League for Democracy just on a year ago.
In May 2003 Suu Kyi and her supporters set out on a road tour of Burma. Everywhere she went huge crowds gathered – testament to the passion she still generates among Burmese people.
Combining amateur videotape of Suu Kyi’s tour with interviews with her bodyguard and aides the ABC’s South East Asia Correspondent Peter Lloyd has built up the most complete account yet of how “Aunty Suu”, as she’s known, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
From the 24th of May onwards military intelligence agents shadowing Suu Kyi’s tour and engineered confrontations with her supporters. As Suu Kyi’s convoy reached the outskirts of the town of Depayin it was ambushed by a large mob, organised by Military Intelligence, who were wielding sticks and clubs
Suu Kyi’s bodyguard, Khin Oo told Lloyd: “The situation was very chaotic and frightening. The tail lights and rear windshield of Suu Kyi’s care was smashed. ‘Aunty’ was injured on here left shoulder and the left side of her neck “
Over Suu Kyi’s protests that she shouldn’t flee her driver accelerated towards a barbed wire barricade. A witness to the incident, Naing Naing said, “when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car got away I heard the voice giving orders saying ‘fire’ and ten to fifteen gunshots were fired. “
Naing Naing told Lloyd from the sanctuary of Thailand that the order to fire on Suu Kyi’s car came from a man referred to as “major”. “It was definitely military. Yes definitely involving government and military. His was meant to kill our leader. To kill the leader of the entire people – I can express this from witnessing the scene,” Naing Naing said.
Next month the military regime in Burma will kick start a seven-step reform process it says will lead to democracy. The first step on this so called ‘roadmap to democracy’ is the reconvening of a national convention that will re draft the country’s constitution..
Now at the same time the un is hinting that the regime may also set free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who’s been in jail or under house arrest since violent clashes in northern Burma last may. Despite this new mood of optimism the regime still has many questions to answer about that day now known as the Black Friday massacre.Tonight foreign correspondent will reveal for the first time evidence of direct military involvement in the attack whose purpose was intended to assassinate Suu Kyi
Lloyd: Last may huge crowds turned out in Burma to greet the country’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
00:00
These remarkable pictures show the passions she still generates despite spending most of the last 14 years in detention.
00:17
Suu Kyi: We should never forget that this country belongs to all of its citizens.
00:29
Lloyd: The people’s response to Suu Kyi rattled the military dictators in Rangoon.
00:33
A few days after these pictures were taken government-backed thugs attacked the opposition leader’s convoy, leaving dozens dead.
Lloyd: This man called Naing Naing was there on the night.Naing Naing: When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car got away, I heard the voice giving orders say “Fire!” and 10 to 15 gunshots were fired.
00:56
They shot this car – Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car.
01:13
Khin Oo: There were a lot of people there.
01:33
Lloyd: Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal bodyguard on the trip was Khin Oo.
Nyunt Nyunt, is a senior member of the opposition who joined the convoy.
01:42
Nyunt Nyunt: Who are those people? Khin Oo: They are military intelligence.
Lloyd: Watching the videotape back again they can see early signs of trouble
01:56
Khin Oo: There’s Aunty Suu, do you see her? Look at the flowers on the car, many people tried to give her flowers.
Khin Oo: The people’s response to her was both happy and sad. Many people tried to give her flowers. And when they couldn’t reach her they tossed them at her.
02:21
Lloyd: The military were anxiously watching Suu Kyi and the adoring crowd.
02:37
On May the 24th, they engineered the first confrontation between a militia of government supporters and the opposition.
The following day, opposition cameras recorded the menacing presence of military intelligence. Suu Kyi demanded they back off.
03:13
Suu Kyi: The authorities should understand the meaning of justice and should execute their duty. If they can’t even understand the meaning of justice how can they rule the country?
03:24
Lloyd: Instead the military turned up the pressure, sending stooges into the crowd to taunt and chant anti-Suu Kyi slogans.A rally at the next township was interrupted by buses loaded with jeering civil servants, sent to provoke yet another disturbance.Suu Kyi supporters soon turned on the government workers and chased them away. Two days later, after more rowdy interruptions, she called her security team together and gave them strict instructions.Khin Oo: From the morning of the 29th, when we start out on our journey,
03:42
we have to be very mindful -- if they insulted us verbally or beat us with sticks we must not respond. We should not resist at all. She spoke often about this, but she stressed it on the night of the 28th.
04:27
Lloyd: The following day, the security team arranged for supporters to form a motorcycle cordon around the convoy.
05:00
Backers of the regime meanwhile were making their presence felt from the roadside. Mingling in the crowd were some hostile faces.
05:18
At nightfall on may the 29th, the convoy rolled into Monywa township. This time the regime tried a new spoiling tactic to stop another political rally. They turned off the town’s power supply.Khin Oo: When the people in Monywa
05:38
realised that the electricity had been cut, everyone lit candles so it looked like there was still power.
05:55
Lloyd: Despite this harassment, Suu Kyi urged her followers to remain calm.
06:09
Suu Kyi: Patience on the part of the people is a good quality. Patience means that the country can be peaceful. But that doesn’t mean that you should put your head down meekly, and accept what’s meted out to you. Your head is for thinking and for looking up -- but this is a time when you’re not even allowed to look up.
06:15
Lloyd: It was the last act of defiance the dictators would suffer.
06:40
These illustrations based on witness testimony show what happened the next evening. On the outskirts of Depayin, a group appeared in the middle of the road.
06:48
Khin Oo: Two monks approached and stopped Aung San Suu Kyi’s car and requested that she give a speech. Suu Kyi agreed to speak, but asked the monks to move the crowd.
06:59
Lloyd: The ploy was the trigger for an ambush. A large mob wielding sticks and clubs poured from the vehicles at the rear of the convoy and began attacking the opposition leader’s car.
07:14
Khin Oo: The situation was very chaotic and frightening. The tail lights and rear windshield of Aung San Suu Kyi’s car were smashed. The back frame of the car was also smashed
07:26
Lloyd: Several blows landed on the leader known simply as ‘aunty’.
07:43
“Aunty” was injured on her left shoulder and the left side of her neck.
07:49
The mob also turned on men, women and children in the convoy. Nyunt Nyunt was dragged from her car.
07:58
Nyunt Nyunt: When it was my turn to be beaten, they dragged me by the head. The car was a bit high and I fell down on to my shoulder. When I fell down on to the road, they dragged me about twenty feet and my blouse split open from the back, so I pulled my sarong up to cover my breasts.
While I was clutching my sarong, two monks from the side, one youth from the back and one at my feet beat me. Four in all beat me.
08:24
Lloyd: Nyunt Nyunt saw others from the convoy butchered.
08:37
Nyunt Nyunt: While they were beating me, I heard people cry out from the car in front of me that two people died. Meanwhile, I saw the driver of my car being beaten. He fell down from the car with his eyeball falling out, and he died
08:45
Lloyd: The security detail led by Khin Oo was convinced Suu Kyi would also be killed
09:06
The security group and I were shouting, “Aunty! Drive away, Aunty! Drive away!” And instead of running I heard her say “How can I run when the people are being beaten right in front of me?”
09:14
Lloyd: But Suu Kyi’s driver had other ideas. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and drove forward into a barbed-wire barricade. A volley of shots aimed at the car narrowly missed their mark..
09:35
Naing Naing: We were arrested in this compound. The attacker, they are waiting to attack Aung San Suu Kyi.
09:57
The drawing of Suu Kyi’s dramatic escape is based on the story of this man who stumbled on the scene before the trouble began.Naing Naing was seized by soldiers and thrown into a truck. It was a night he will never forget.
Naing Naing: My colleagues and I were often interrogated and many of us have been languishing in prisons in Mandalay and Rangoon for long periods of time because of our activities.
10:22
Lloyd: Naing Naing is the only witness to come forward so far who heard a man referred to as ‘major’ give the order to open fire on Aung San Suu Kyi.
10:37
Lloyd: It was definitely military. Naing Naing: Yes definitely involving government and military. 10:47
This was meant to kill our leader -- to kill the leader of the entire people. I can say this because I saw it happen.
10:53
Lloyd: This one shows the moment when she crashed through the barricade.
11:05
Lloyd: Naing Naing was briefly gaoled after the attack. The authorities set him free only after forcing him to sign secrecy documents.
11:09
Naing Naing: Each of us was given a document titled State Secrets. They warned us that the international media would exploit us regarding this incident. They told us, “We will take action against you if you speak out about this.”
11:18
Lloyd: Naing Naing fled across the border to Mae Sot in north western Thailand. It’ s too dangerous to go back to Burma and he lives in fear of regime death squads crossing the river to silence him. It’s a high price for speaking out, but one he hopes will be worth it.
11:49
Naing Naing: If Suu Kyi is allowed to travel freely and campaign, our Burmese people will be made more politically aware. Our people have been facing a lack of leadership which has made them helpless.
12:10
Lloyd: After the massacre, Burma’s government took to the world stage on a public relations charm offensive.
12:40
Foreign Minister: There will be signs of brutality everywhere, we’re not brutal people.
12:47
Let me say that we have loving kindness to everybody, everybody it means, you know, even creatures.
12:51
Lloyd: It was the job of foreign minister Win Aung to counter international outrage by peddling old, unfulfilled promises for free and fair elections.
13:04
Foreign Minister: Let me assure you again, what we are working for is a civilian government to emerge, not the military government to prolong its stay in power, we are not working for that, we are working for the emergence of a constitutional civilian government with the politicians playing their political rules, thank-you very much.
13:14
Lloyd: The regime will convene a national convention to draft a new -- and it claims -- more democratic constitution.
13:43
Aung San Suu Kyi quit the last attempt back in 1995 because it was rigged to give the regime legitimacy. In its latest ploy the military has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest while developing a divide and conquer strategy with other opposition groups.
13:56
The biggest obstacle to that objective lies across this river in the remote jungle of north-eastern Burma.This territory is a stronghold for soldiers of the rebel Karen National Union, or KNU.Well armed and disciplined, the KNU is the largest armed ethnic faction still fighting Rangoon’s rule.
14:20
The two sides have been waging war for 55 years generations of mutual suspicion and hatred divide these old foes.
14:51
Pado Mansha is the secretary general of the KNU.
15:01
Mansha: In the front line they kill people, they burn down the village, they take porters and kill porters in the front line. They use many child soldiers, they rape many women.
15:06
Lloyd: Convincing these soldiers to give up their armed struggle to attend the national convention would allow the regime to boast that it had won over all the significant factions, bar Suu Kyi and her party. But this divide and conquer strategy has one fatal flaw.The Karen won’t strike any deal unless the regime recognises their long time ally Aung San Suu Kyi, sets her free, and makes a series of major concessions:
15:25
Mansha: They must repeal the unjust laws against the people. For example, freedom of speech, freedom of publication, freedom of assembly -- these basic rights must be upheld.
15:56
Lloyd: For well over a decade the world has been calling on the military to hand over power to civilians.For just as many years the generals have followed a cheat and retreat strategy of promising democracy, then failing to deliver.For as long as Suu Kyi remains in detention it will look like business as usual for Burma’s strongmen.
16:20
In the coming weeks, the onus will be on them to prove the road map to democracy is more than just another trick to keep power at the expense of Burma’s long suffering people.
16:53
Reporter: Peter LloydCamera: David LelandEditor: John McElhinneyProducers: Vivien Altman and Jeannie Hallacy 17:10