Myanmar exiles fight for democracy

A picture of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, gazing into the distance with determined eyes, hangs on nearly every wall in Sein Win's modest office in this Washington suburb.
From this third-floor office nestled in the forested suburb of Rockville, Win and a small group of Myanmar exiles fight for democracy in their homeland -- a cause that gained new urgency since its military rulers violently repressed peaceful protests last month.
As the prime minister of Myanmar's self-proclaimed government in exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Win has met with international leaders and collected awards on behalf of his first cousin, Aung San Suu Kyi.
He hopes one day he can return to a free Myanmar and personally deliver all the democracy awards to his cousin, whom he last saw in 1989 on the day soldiers surrounded her home in Yangon home and placed her under house arrest.
"It will be a very, very happy occasion after so many years," Win told AFP in his office's small conference room, where a bust of Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, sits atop a book shelf.
But in the meantime, he has to wait until the military regime, which has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for the better part of the last 18 years, changes its attitude.
Win, a bespectacled former university professor of mathematics, was disturbed by the regime's recent crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks, which left 13 people dead and sparked worldwide outrage against the junta.
"We are calling for a smooth transition and we are calling for dialogue, and they are beating the monks, saying no to everybody," said Win, who had already witnessed the regime's brutality in 1988, when it crushed pro-democracy protests led by students in a crackdown that left more than 3,000 people dead.
Win is concerned that some of the protesters arrested in the most recent crackdown were tortured. He describes the military junta as "brutal," "uncivilized," "stubborn." Still, he believes the regime should be involved in a democratic transition.
"Let's talk, let's have a dialogue," said Win, who was elected in 1990 in elections that the junta refused to recognize. "You will be part of the transition, part of solution, and right now they are part of the problem."
Since 1993, Win has led his battle for democracy from the United States, while other coalition ministers are based in India and Thailand.
His supporters describe the salt-and-pepper-haired mathematician as a modest man who lives in a two-bedroom apartment with his family.
"Humbleness in Burmese culture goes a long, long way," said Jeremy Woodrum, the director of the US Campaign for Burma.
"He doesn't flaunt himself, he's not a flashy dresser, he doesn't wear gold watches," said Woodrum, who has worked with Win for eight years. "He's not a self-promoter."
Aung San Suu Kyi, meanwhile, has become the symbol of the opposition's struggle to bring democracy to a country that has been led by the military since 1962.
"She is a rallying point for all of us," Win said.
Win and his cousin are the scions of two key figures of Myanmar's independence. Win's father, U Ba Win, was a political leader and the elder brother of Aung San Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San, the architect of the country's independence.
But their fathers were assassinated in 1947, before the country's independence from Britain.
Win entered politics after the 1988 crackdown. Two years later, he was among the winning candidates of the National League for Democracy (NLD) that swept the May 1990 elections, which were ignored by the junta.
Win and other NLD members formed the NCGUB in ethnic Karen territory on December 18, 1990. The junta outlawed the group in August 2005.
"They don't like us to be here, to do the work we are doing," Win said. "They want to link us with terrorists, they want to link us with narcotics activities. They are trying that. But they are not successful."