The condition of Aung San Suu Kyi’s health is still unknown after reports surfaced last week that she has difficulty eating and is suffering from low blood pressure and dehydration.
Nyan Win, a spokesperson for her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy on Monday that they have no idea about the current health of the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
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Nyan Win added that the party has repeatedly tried to get information about Suu Kyi’s health, but the requests have ignored by the junta.
The NLD spokesman said that the party had called for Suu Kyi to be allowed a doctor’s visit and for any necessary medical treatment to be administered. However, he said, to date there has been no response from the Burmese authorities.
Suu Kyi’s physician, Dr Tin Myo Win, was barred from seeing her after arriving on Thursday at her Inya Lake home to conduct a routine medical checkup. He was later taken into custody for questioning. Why he was arrested is still unclear.
Burmese opposition sources in exile have claimed that doctor Tin Myo Win was charged under State Emergency Act 5/J, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Ma Mee, a sister of Tin Myo Win, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that she has no idea where her brother was being detained or whether he had been charged.
On Friday, Tin Myo Win’s assistant, Dr Phone Mo Ei, was allowed to see Suu Kyi for about two hours. As Suu Kyi reportedly had difficulty eating, she was given an intravenous drip.
Meanwhile, some Burmese observers and journalists speculated that the arrest of family doctor Tin Myo Win was related to the mysterious case of an American, John William Yeattaw, who was arrested by security forces on Wednesday morning after allegedly swimming to Suu Kyi’s house and hiding there for three days.
Some Burmese observers questioned whether Burmese authorities may have suspected that Tin Myo Win and Yeattaw had made contact at the lakeside house, which is located in the northern part of Rangoon.
Burma’s state-run The New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Thursday that the US citizen swam across Inya Lake to Suu Kyi’s home and stayed for three days.
The US embassy in Rangoon has reportedly still been unable to gain access to the detained man.
Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years. Her latest arrest was in May 2003 when her convoy of vehicles was attacked by junta-backed thugs. Suu Kyi’s most recent appeal for release, advocated by her lawyer Kyi Win in October, was rejected by the Burmese regime.
