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May 3, 2012

Pro-Democracy Leader Suu Kyi Takes Seat in Burmese Parliament 
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Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has assumed her seat in
parliament after spending much of the past two decades as a political
prisoner. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won a
landslide victory in a by-election last month. Supporters hope the Nobel
Peace Prize winner will help bring a new era of democracy to a
legislature still dominated by former members of the military junta that
ruled for nearly 50 years. After taking the oath of office, Suu Kyi told
reporters she is prepared to work with the junta and its supporters.

Aung San Suu Kyi: "I have tremendous good will towards the military so
it doesn't, in any way, bother me to sit with them, I'm pleased to be
sitting together with them."

Reporter: "But you would like to either reduce their presence or not
have them in the parliament."

Aung San Suu Kyi: "We would like our parliament to be in line with
genuine democratic values. It's not because we want to remove anybody as
such, we just want to make the kind of improvements that would make our
national assembly truly democratic."

 

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