Suu Kyi's party looks beyond dissolution

File Photo of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) on Friday ceased to exist, ending a political saga of over two decades of non-violent resistance to the continuing military rule in Myanmar.

The party attracted “automatic dissolution” upon refusing to re-register under the junta's poll decrees, promulgated two months ago as the framework for a promised general election at an unspecified time. The timeline for re-registration ended at the stroke of midnight on Thursday.

The NLD leaders and activists will, however, seek to transform the now-defunct party into a social service organisation, according to Nyan Win, Ms. Suu Kyi's close political associate. Details of the proposed outfit have not yet been finalised.

Mr. Nyan Win told

The Hindu from Yangon that the new move was in line with the “opinion of Ms. Suu Kyi,” still serving her latest term of house arrest. On a parallel track, four ex-NLD-leaders decided to form a new political party under the tentative name of a national democratic force.

Tracing how the NLD was now passing into history, he said the Myanmar Supreme Court had in fact refused to accept an application from her for a ruling that the junta's current election laws were illegal.

Contention

Her main contention was that the decree on registration of political parties for the promised poll was so crafted as to have the effect of banning the NLD. To retain recognition as a political party, the NLD was required to distance itself from her on the ground that she was serving a “judicial sentence” upon being found “guilty” of violating the restrictions under her previous term of house arrest.