Prague, Sept 17 (CTK) - Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi wants the Czech Republic to support further democratisation in Burma, she told a press conference at the close of the Forum 2000 conference Tuesday.
Suu Kyi said this is one of the main reasons of her visit to Prague.
She said the present constitution of Burma needs to be changed because it is not democratic.
Suu Kyi said the Czech Republic helped Burma on its road from an authoritarian regime to democracy already in the past and she believes it will remain among its supporters.
On Monday and Tuesday, Suu Kyi met President Milos Zeman, Foreign Minister Jan Kohout and representatives of the Czech parliament, headed by Senate chairman Milan Stech.
Suu Kyi said all the Czech politicians expressed support to her. She added she felt support also because the Czech Republic went through something similar in the past.
She said the situation in Burma is like that of the Czech Republic 20 years ago, but the Burmese path is more difficult because the country faces problems with ethnic minorities apart from the transition from an authoritarian regime.
Suu Kyi said the Burmese government misuses media and the Internet to deliberately spread lies about its opponents and harm them.
Representatives of Western countries should ask the Burmese government whether it would support changes to the constitution, she pointed out.
Stech said Czech representatives consider a democratic constitution a must and they are ready to contribute to its promotion by exerting political pressure.
Suu Kyi said the Burmese constitution is very hard to change as constitutional amendments need to be passed by three fourths of the parliament, but one fourth of the parliament are members of the military, according to the constitution.
She said her party, the National League for Democracy, wants to negotiate with the representatives of ethnic minorities about the issue. It is necessary to decide whether to try to change the current constitution or whether to propose a completely new constitution by the end of the year, she added.
Suu Kyi recalled that she also visited Poland and Hungary to better understand experience that these countries gained in their transformation from an authoritarian to a democratic regime. She said the three Central European states were much further on the road towards democracy than Burma.
It is a lesson for Burma that the transformation was accompanied with problems, which can help it in its own problems, being aware that problems seem to be unavoidable, Suu Kyi said.
If the Central European countries had undergone transformation smoothly and without making mistakes, it would have been worse for Burma as this would raise the question why is it possible elsewhere but not in Burma, she said.
Suu Kyi took part in the three-day 17th Forum 2000 conference of thinkers, politicians and political scientists, which was established by former president Vaclav Havel.
The former dissident, daughter of Burma's independence hero General Aung San, was forced to spend 15 years in detention during the rule of the military junta in the 1980s and the 1990s.
Suu Kyi recalled on Sunday that Havel refused his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and proposed her instead.
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/suu-kyi-calls-on-czechs-to-support-democracy-in-burma/
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