Hope not revenge guides former prisoners after Suu Kyi Myanmar win

Blogger Nay Phone Latt spent years in prison under Myanmar's former junta, but preparing to enter parliament as a newly minted MP for Aung San Suu Kyi's democracy party, he refuses to let the darkness of the past dull optimism for the country's future.

Generations of artists, activists and journalists carry the physical and emotional scars of languishing behind bars under decades of military rule.

But as Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) thunders to a landslide victory, many former political prisoners are eager to take part in what the Nobel laureate has described as the long-blighted nation's "great leap" to democracy.

"We do not want the next generation to face what we faced. I never think about the past. I would like to focus on the current situation and the future," Nay Phone Latt told AFP.

He would rather be a writer than an MP, but has turned his hand to politics as part of a wave of untested new lawmakers to help Suu Kyi and her party negotiate the dicey months and years ahead.

The 36-year-old was sentenced to two decades in prison in 2008 for his links to the "Saffron Revolution" monk-led protests against the junta, released in 2012 as part of an amnesty under the quasi-civilian government that replaced military rule.

Key to the challenges facing the NLD, he says, is its relationship with the still powerful army, which retains control over pivotal security ministries and a quarter of parliamentary seats.

Suu Kyi has already reached out to arrange talks with former general President Thein Sein as well as army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Far from taking a combative approach to the generals that for years tried to crush their movement, Nay Phone Latt said civilian MPs would "build a relationship" with their military counterparts.

Richard Horsey, an independent expert on Myanmar, said there was no indication of the NLD "clamouring for retributive justice".

"The biggest desire that everyone has is just for the country to get back on their feet, to re-engage with the world," he told AFP.

Caption: People walk past a graffiti depiction of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi outside the headquarters of the National League for Democracy party (NLD) in Yangon.

Photo: tribune.com.pk