Suu Kyi must say sorry for sanctions: Myanmar media

Myanmar state media on Saturday demanded Aung San Suu Kyi and her party apologise for opposing the lifting of Western sanctions, days after warning of "tragic ends" for the democracy icon.
"They have to mend their ways, begging public pardon for the acts they have breached in their interests, at the expense of that of the nation and the people" said an opinion piece that ran in several state newspapers.
It is the latest in a string of anti-sanctions columns after a statement from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) said punitive measures helped pressure the authorities and had not affected the economy significantly.
Seemingly threatening remarks warning that the opposition figurehead and her party "will meet their tragic ends" if they continued to support sanctions, led the US to raise fears over Suu Kyi's safety earlier in the week.
The media criticism is the first to have explicitly targeted the Nobel Peace Prize winner since she was released from seven years of house arrest last November, days after a controversial election.
Saturday's comments seemed to acknowledge that Myanmar, controlled by the military since 1962, has failed to progress in line with regional neighbours and laid much of the blame on Western sanctions.
"If the people of a country are in dire straits in consequence of economic sanctions, that is the worst human rights violation," the piece said.
The NLD has reacted cautiously to the week's commentary, saying it had not received any official response from the authorities to its statement on sanctions.
"Daw Suu didn't say anything about these articles. We have no comment," said party spokesman Nyan Win. Daw is a term of respect in Myanmar.
Suu Kyi's release reignited debate over the effectiveness of the financial and trade blocks, enforced notably by the United States and the European Union in response to the junta's human rights abuses.
Some observers see the sanctions issue as her only leverage with the authorities because Western nations are considered unlikely to scrap the measures without her support.
In its statement issued last week, the NLD stressed that any end to sanctions on Myanmar should be linked to an improvement in the junta's human rights record, notably the release of political prisoners.
The remarks came days after Washington said it was premature to ease sanctions on Myanmar and urged the regime to take more concrete steps.
A new parliament convened for the first time in January, but it is dominated by retired generals and critics accuse the country's political system of hiding the army's power behind a civilian facade.
Suu Kyi's party has no voice in the legislature as it was disbanded for opting to boycott the November vote because the rules seemed designed to bar its figurehead from participating.