by MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR
BANGKOK, Nov 6, 2010 (IPS) – To some in her country she is known as “The Lady,” and to others, the more endearing “Aunty Suu.” Yet beyond the borders of Burma, which has endured nearly 50 years of oppressive military regimes, Aung San Suu Kyi has been long regarded as the icon of the country’s struggling democracy movement.
But as Burma, or Myanmar, reaches a political crossroads in November, Suu Kyi’s credentials will come under scrutiny. How much power and reach would she still have to rally her followers barely a week after the South-east Asian nation’s first general election in two decades, on Nov. 7?
If the country’s military leaders are to be believed, the 65-year-old Nobel laureate is due to be released from her current seven-year spell of house arrest on Nov. 13.
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