Aung San Suu Kyi Phone Call is ‘Political Calculation’ by Military-Backed Government

Advocates demand release of Myanmar’s former leader after her first contact with family in 5 years.

By RFA Burmese

Allowing Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi to speak on the phone with her son for the first time in five years is not enough – the military government must immediately release her and all other political prisoners, a human rights advocate told Radio Free Asia Thursday.

The country’s military-backed government announced that the former leader – currently under house arrest – was allowed to talk for 20 minutes to her son Kim Aris at 2:30 p.m. via a call placed to the Myanmar embassy in London, where Aris resides.

The chance to talk to her son came just days after the military released images of her receiving a letter and some books sent by Britain’s King Charles III.

While the phone call was a joyous occasion for mother and son, much more must be done to bring peace to Myanmar, Aung Myo Kyaw, an official with the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), told RFA.

“Aung San Suu Kyi is not only a mother to Kim, but also a mother to the country,” said Aung Myo Kyaw. “What the citizens of the country need is the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.”

He said that the gradual easing of restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi is a political calculation by the military government, which he said was failing in all aspects.

At a time when the military continues to airstrike populated areas of the country, simply allowing her to talk to her son in the U.K. will not bring peace, he said.

“FREE HER. FREE THEM ALL”

In an interview with Radio Free Asia after speaking with his mother, Kim Aris said that it’s clear that the Myanmar military-backed government have been trying to “be more appealing to the international community.”

“But people need to remember that the military haven’t actually abided by any of what they have said they will have done over the last five years,” Aris told RFA. “They have not met the five-point consensus, and yet people are starting to re-engage with them without having seen any evidence of actual progress.”

In a Facebook post, Aris said that he was glad to finally hear his mother’s voice again and thanked supporters for continuing to advocate for her freedom.

But he reiterated that she is still “unjustly detained.”

“One conversation is not regular family access. Family access is not freedom,” he said. “My mother must never be used as a hostage or bargaining chip for diplomatic recognition, sanctions relief or political advantage.”

He called on governments that engage with Myanmar’s military authorities to not legitimize them in exchange for humanitarian rights.

“My mother and all political prisoners must be released immediately and unconditionally. Freedom is not negotiable. Accountability Before Legitimacy. FREE HER. FREE THEM ALL,” he wrote.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since the 2021 military coup that ousted her and the rest of the country’s democratically elected government from power. She was sentenced to 18 years for a broad range of crimes that include corruption and election fraud, though she maintains that she is innocent.

For the duration of her detention, her exact location has not been easy to ascertain, and in April the military government moved her into house arrest. Until the brief phone call with her son Thursday, she had had almost no contact with the outside.

Radio Free Asia attempted to contact a spokesman for the military government to discuss more details about the phone call between Aung San Suu Kyi and Kim Aris, but there was no response.