Suu Kyi calls for compromise with junta

YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democratic opposition in Myanmar, says she is prepared to compromise with the military junta.

In a telephone interview with the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Suu Kyi said Wednesday the ruling military leaders appear to realize the country needs to change, or at least needs the appearance of change. She said she has learned in the 10 days since she was freed from confinement at her home in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, that people "are absolutely reaching for change."

"If you believe in democracy, you have to accept that there is such a thing as diversity," she said. "We have to try to bring about democratic institutions and democratic practices, which will make it possible for us to disagree without upsetting the whole nation."

In 1990, Suu Kyi's movement won a national election in the country formerly known as Burma. The junta refused to recognize the results.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party, the junta's political arm, claims to have received 80 percent of the votes in the Nov. 7 election.

"Diversity is not something that comes easily to the military mind-set," she said. "But at the same time, even this regime, as we have noticed, has had to say that they are working for democracy even if they do qualify it by saying 'disciplined democracy.'"