RANGOON, Burma - Detained prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is unsatisfied with the progress of her meetings with a representative of Burma's military junta and cautions the public to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst," a member of her political party said yesterday.
Suu Kyi, who was allowed to meet earlier in the day with executives of her National League for Democracy party, is unhappy that there is no deadline for the talks to achieve any results on bringing about democratic reform, said party spokesman Nyan Win.
Western nations and the United Nations pressed the junta to hold talks with Suu Kyi after the regime's violent crackdown on prodemocracy protesters last year.
The junta appointed a ministerial-level official, Aung Kyi, to meet with her. The two met yesterday for the fifth time after Suu Kyi's meeting with party colleagues.
"What I can say is Daw Suu is not satisfied with the current meetings with the junta, especially the fact that the process is not time-bound," Nyan Win said. "Daw" is a term of respect for older women in Burma.
She said "we should hope for the best and prepare for the worst. We have to be patient as we have sacrificed for many years," he added.
There was no immediate comment from the government on the meeting, which took place at a military guest house in Burma's biggest city, Rangoon.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is under house arrest, said Aung Kyi insists political change must wait until the government completes its "roadmap to democracy," a position she described as "totally wrong," Nyan Win said. The seven-stage roadmap is supposed to lead to free elections at an unspecified point in the future.
