This is a comment on the article ASEAN to appeal for Suu Kyi's participation in elections, (the Post, Aug. 22).

What most people do not realize is that in many instances Aung San Suu Kyi is erroneously referred to as an elected person or in some instances as an elected president or Prime Minister.

Aung San Suu Kyi never stood for the any election in Myanmar because she was not eligible to contest a seat. It was not this present military government or the previous socialist government that refused Aung San Suu Kyi the right to stand for elections but ironically it was her own father, Myanmar's national hero General Aung San, who wrote into the original constitution, subsequently promulgated in 1948, a clause with the provision that "any person who is under any acknowledgement of allegiance or adherence to a foreign power, or a subject or citizen is entitled to the rights and privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power."

Thus she is not entitled to contest a seat in the country's elections. Aung San Suu Kyi resided abroad for twenty-eight years and married an Englishman (Giving her the right to UK citizenship) and has two children that both hold British citizenship.

This type of constitutional condition is implemented by many governments (such as Singapore, Malaysia, India and Australia) including those of developed nations.

Mynt Lwin
Tokyo

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