THERE were extraordinary scenes in the rambling garden and front rooms of a slightly shabby lakeside house in Rangoon late yesterday afternoon when Aung San Suu Kyi invited the world's press for high tea.
Reporters who earlier this month hardly hoped for a glimpse of 'The Lady' heard her admit she was a supporter of Chelsea Football Club, complain that foreigners could never speak really fluent Burmese, and that even she had followed the trial of O. J. Simpson.
Relaxed but very sharp, she handled more than 100 journalists present without a flicker of alarm, boredom or annoyance.
It would have been an impressive performance by any politician, let alone one who 10 days ago had been detained in the same house for nearly six years.
She refused political questions, insisting this was only a chat, yet the panache and good humour of her bravura display was a timely reminder that this remarkable woman should not be lightly written off - no matter how daunting her aim of bringing democracy to Burma.
Her colleagues admitted they were not sure how to approach the military junta.
