Democracy or democrazy?

It all started in 1988 when the people of Burma marched, demonstrated and protested against the government. The uprising was caused partly by the government, which had closed universities in Burma. There were around 3000 deaths and unknown numbers of injured. During that time Aung San Suu Kyi became an icon and Burma gained worldwide media attention. State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) - that later became State Peace and Development Council - stated in their Declaration No. 1 among other things that the military would not "cling to power for long". In May 1989 the Burmese government reopened the universities that had been closed and a date for the election was set to May the following year. The reason for the government's sudden change was maybe caused by pressure from the outside world after the political situation in Burma became illuminated.

Than Shwe - Leader of the Military Regime

The election in 1990 was by the government said to be democratic, but was it really? Aung San Suu Kyi's party, NLD (National League for Democracy), won 392 of the 492 seats in the Burmese Parlament. So the people's choice was pretty clear, they wanted Aung San Suu Kyi to lead Burma. Still, the government chose to ignore the results and retook the power. The government thereby censored the people's utterance. They stated that the reason for their annulment of the results were to prevent a breakup of the Union.

Aung San Suu Kyi's popularity in the election was due to her continuing resistance against the government. Her speeches speak the mind of the people and she is one of the government's greatest threats.

You can read her well-known speech 'Freedom From Fear' from 1990 here: http://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-speeches/aung-san-suu-kyi-speech-freedom-from-fear.htm