--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday May 6, 11:19 AM
Myanmar Professor Freed From
Prison
BANGKOK (AP)--A 75-year-old retired professor who got a
seven-year prison sentence for staging a solo democracy protest in
military-ruled Myanmar says he was released early because he was "old and
harmless."
Prof. Salai Tun Than was arrested Nov. 29, 2001, for handing
out flyers in front of City Hall in the capital Yangon calling for multiparty
elections and goading the regime to "kill an old professor" and use the academic
gown he was wearing as a "shroud for my dead body."
The U.S.-educated
agronomist was released Sunday along with 17 other political prisoners as
international criticism mounted on Myanmar for holding as many as 1,200 such
detainees and making little progress in dialogue to resolve the country's
political stalemate with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a
telephone interview Monday from Yangon, Tun Than was guarded in his remarks. If
he is convicted of another offense, he must also serve the remainder of the
seven-year sentence. He said he was freed because he was "old and harmless."
But he echoed his protest call: "The best thing when there is a
political impasse is to hold multiparty elections," he said.
Tun Than
said he had fasted for two days in Insein Prison in late April, but stopped
after authorities agreed to provide a proper toilet and a clock in his wing of
the prison, and end the practice of forcing inmates to wear hoods when they are
moved.
Teachers are traditionally venerated in Myanmar society. Tun Than
was rector of Yezin University of Agriculture in central Myanmar until his
retirement in 1990.
The military has ruled for 41 years, and gunned down
thousands of people during a student-led uprising for democracy in 1988. Two
years later, Suu Kyi's party won elections, but the military refused to hand
over power. Political protests are now very rare and often quashed within
minutes.
In his protest petition, Tun Than had written: "Of course, many
potential intellectuals of our high schools and universities have already been
killed. It is about time that you kill an old professor."
But Tun Than
said Monday that he had "no political motives" when he protested, but was
interested in promoting development policy. Myanmar is one of Asia's poorest
countries and the economy is in tatters.
He said he has been suffering
from an eye disease and that his eyesight wasn't very good. "I'm going to rest
for the time being and recuperate, and then later on I'll go see my friends,
whoever they are," he said.
Tun Than, from Myanmar's Chin ethnic
minority, holds degrees in agronomy from both the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Georgia in the U.S.. He thanked
activists abroad - who included students at both universities - for staging
protest campaigns demanding his release.
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Democracy leader marks anniversary of release with tour of
northern Myanmar
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK, Thailand,
May 5 ? Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi left Yangon for a monthlong trip to
northern Myanmar on Tuesday, the first anniversary of her release from house
arrest, a party spokesman said.
Suu Kyi plans to open branch offices of
her National League for Democracy party in Kachin state during the trip,
expected to be her longest such tour since her release, said NLD spokesman U
Lwin.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was released by the military
government after 19 months of house arrest on May 6, 2002, and has since largely
been allowed to travel freely around the country.
But on at least two
occasions she has been blocked by unidentified people, and her supporters have
been intimidated and harassed, according to the NLD. Suu Kyi has accused the
junta of being responsible, a charge the government denies.
The current
military regime took power in 1988, after crushing a pro-democracy movement. Suu
Kyi's party won national elections held two years later, but was never allowed
to take power.
Talks between the junta and Suu Kyi since October 2000 to
end the deadlock have made no progress except for the release of a few hundred
political prisoners and the apparent freedom of movement granted to Suu Kyi.
The trip starting Tuesday is Suu Kyi's seventh in the past year, during
which time she has opened more than 100 party offices throughout the country, U
Lwin said.
''She left early this morning for Kachin state,'' he said,
adding that Suu Kyi will also visit northern Sagaing and Magwe to meet
supporters and open party offices.
Suu Kyi is traveling with NLD vice
chairman Tin Oo and more than 15 youth members of the party in a convoy of three
cars.
They will stop for the night in Myanmar's second-largest city,
Mandalay, where Suu Kyi will meet local elders. They are scheduled to visit
small towns before reaching Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital, 590 miles north
of Yangon, on the fourth day.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's Economic Plight Worsens
Mon May 5,
3:36 PM ET
By DANIEL LOVERING,
Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military government touted
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest a year ago as a
new page in the country's history. But now, hopes for a political dialogue have
dimmed and Myanmar's economic plight is worse, Suu Kyi and analysts say.
Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, was freed from 1 1/2
years of house arrest on May 6, 2002, and has been allowed to travel around the
country, meeting supporters and reopening offices of her National League for
Democracy party.
But Suu Kyi claims she and her followers have been
intimidated and their efforts to revive the party hampered. The National League
for Democracy won national elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take
power.
The military regime denies any deliberate effort "to interfere
with her travels or activities" and insists it is guiding the country through a
peaceful transition to democracy.
On Sunday, the government released 18
political prisoners, including 12 members of Suu Kyi's party, and said it was
moving the country toward democracy after 41 years of military rule.
"The releases are the latest in a series of efforts by the government to
move Myanmar closer to multiparty democracy and national reconciliation," a
government statement said.
More than 1,200 political prisoners still
languish behind bars, according to London-based rights group Amnesty
International.
Suu Kyi and the ruling junta entered U.N.-brokered talks
in October 2000 to push toward reconciliation and democratic reforms, but Suu
Kyi says negotiations have gone virtually nowhere.
"When I was released,
it was agreed between the authorities and ourselves that ... we should go on to
a more advanced stage of our relationship," Suu Kyi said recently in the
capital, Yangon.
"But I do not think there has been any progress. In
fact, I think there has been some kind of regression. I think we have been
forced to question the sincerity of the (government)."
The junta has
strengthened trade and diplomatic ties with neighbors including China, India and
Thailand. But relations with many Western nations, critical of Myanmar's
political and human rights conditions, are tense.
Myanmar's already weak
economy plunged into crisis in February, when panicked residents withdrew money
from the country's 20 private banks after the collapse of about a dozen private
financial companies.
"If this was an example of a 'new page' which the
military heralded last May 6, very little has been inscribed on it," said Josef
Silverstein, an American political scientist and professor emeritus at Rutgers
University in New Jersey who has studied Myanmar for half a century.
"There was not change in the internal political environment, no real
significant release of political prisoners, no restoration of any political
rights," Silverstein said by e-mail.
He also said the international
community has failed to effectively lobby for political change in Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, who condemned
Myanmar's regime before the U.S. Senate last week, said it would be difficult to
crack the junta's will but the United States would continue working with allies
to promote change.
Silverstein said this policy was "hardly a new and
daring approach, and in light of the past not likely to bear fruit."
While Suu Kyi maintains her longtime position of "cautious
optimism," her tone has been increasingly pessimistic.
"The evidence
points heavily to the conclusion that the (government) is not genuinely
interested in national reconciliation," she said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday May 6, 8:36 AM
Report: Laos, Myanmar agree to
strengthen ties
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Laos and Myanmar have agreed to strengthen
cooperation, particularly in trade, drug control, agriculture and forestry, a
report said Tuesday.
The agreement was reached at a meeting of the
Laos-Myanmar Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic and Cultural Cooperation
in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, the Laotian state news agency, Khaosan
Pathet Lao, reported on its Web site.
Laotian Deputy Prime Minister
Somsavat Lengsavad and Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung led delegates at the
two-day meeting, which ended Saturday.
The officials pledged to continue
working together through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and in
setting national boundaries, the news agency said. It gave no other details.
There are no major disputes between Myanmar and Laos over their shared
border, but it is badly demarcated in places because of remoteness and a history
of different colonial powers. The two agreed to meet again in October to adopt a
memorandum on boundary cooperation, the agency said.
The leader of
Myanmar's military government, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, is visiting Laos May 5-7
along with a 61-member delegation, including ministers of agriculture, forestry,
mines and health.
The visit comes at the invitation of Laotian President
Khamtay Siphandone, who visited Myanmar in early 1992, when he was Laos' prime
minister. Other Laotian leaders visited Myanmar in 1995 and 2001.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Eight students arrested over embassy protest in Myanmar,
exiled group says
BANGKOK, May 6 (AFP) - Eight students were arrested last month
over a two-man protest outside the British embassy in Yangon, while a protestor
who fled into the embassy is seeking political asylum, a Thai-based group said
Tuesday.
The eight student activists were members of the People
Students' Oway Front, a new group formed "to mobilise the peaceful student
movements for political development," a statement from the exiled All Burma
Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) said.
The students "were arrested
because of their memberships in the student front and connection with the
demonstration on 4 April," it said.
Further details of the arrests were
not given.
"One of (the student front's) members is now seeking
political asylum at the British embassy, since he had a fear of persecution
because of his involvement in the demonstration," the union statement said.
Myanmar's ruling junta says the man sought refuge in the embassy after
authorities arrested another man with whom he was demonstrating.
During
the protest the pair waved flags emblazoned with fighting peacocks, a
traditional symbol of resistance to military rule in Myanmar, and disturbed the
peace by shouting, a statement from the junta released afterwards said.
The two men were suspected of being linked to a March 27 bomb blast in
downtown Yangon which killed two government workers, it added.
Late last
month the junta said talks were continuing with the British embassy over the
protestor's presence there.
The British embassy has refused to comment
on the incident.
"The student front insists that they have totally no
connection with any terrorist activities and they will never do such an act,"
the ABFSU statement said.
"We have concerns that these students might be
tortured at military interrogation centres" because they have been accused of
links to terrorist acts, ABFSU spokesperson Min Naing was quoted as saying.
The government earlier said it believed the fugitive inside the embassy
had been sent to Myanmar by a combined group of exiled anti-Yangon outfits to
"engage in sabotage inside the country."
Myanmar's military government
continues to rule the Southeast Asian country despite Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) winning 1990 elections.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dissidents warn on Myanmar after prisoner release
WASHINGTON, May 5 (AFP) - The United States on Monday welcomed the
release of a prominent academic and a group of fellow political prisoners in
Myanmar, but exiled dissidents urged the West to keep the political heat on
Yangon's military rulers.
Retired professor Salai Tun Than, 74, was
freed along with 21 political detainees, ahead of this week's anniversary of the
release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, which prompted
so far unfulfilled hopes of political change.
"We welcome the most
recent release of political prisoners in Burma, including Dr. Salai Tun Than,"
said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, using Myanmar's former name now
outlawed by the junta.
"We had raised the case of Dr. Salai Tun Than
with the regime due to his age and his nonviolent call for freedom, for reform.
"We hope that this release will lead to the immediate and unconditional
release of all remaining political prisoners, and substantiative dialogue
between the regime and the National League for Democracy (NLD) and national
reconciliation," Boucher said.
Myanmar exiles warned that the release
should not result in an easing of the political heat on the Yangon government.
"The release of Salai Tun Than shows that the military regime will
respond only to intense international pressure," said Aung Din, Director of
Policy for the Free Burma Coalition.
"While we welcome his release, it
is all but certain that the regime has sidestepped the issues at hand -- the
continued imprisonment of up to 1,400 other political prisoners and the ongoing
violations of their basic human rights and religious liberties."
The
statement contrasted with that of the Myanmar government, which billed the
releases as the "latest in a series of efforts by the government to move Myanmar
closer to multiparty democracy and national reconciliation."
Aung San
Suu Kyi began secret talks with the junta aimed at reconciliation in October
2000, but a full political dialogue has yet to begin.
International
patience with the regime is wearing thin. Secretary of State Colin Powell last
week branded Myanmar's rulers as "despotic" but admitted that it would be a
tough task to "crack" their will.
Salai Tun Than, an ethnic Chin staged
a solo pro-democracy protest in Yangon in November 2001 and sentenced to seven
years jail.
Several hundred prisoners have been released by the junta in
recent years, but human rights groups estimate 1,200 to 1,300 remain behind
bars. Prisoners are habitually released to mark important events or high-level
visits to Yangon.
The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 but
has never been permitted to rule by the junta.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-05-06
Myanmar Leader arrives in
Vientiane for working visit
Vientiane, May 05 (KPL): Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) Senior General Than Shwe, his spouse and delegation
arrived at Wattay International Airport at 10.30 a.m. on May 05, for a three day
state visit to Lao PDR in response to an invitation of Lao President Khamtay
Siphandone.
At the airport the delegation was warmly welcomed by Mr.
Thongloun Sisoulith, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Committee for
Planning and Co-operation and other high ranking Lao
officials.
Mr.Thongloun Sisoulith later accompanied the state guests to
the Presidential Palace where an official welcome ceremony was organised by
President Khamtay Siphandone.
The visit aims to boost cooperation and
friendship between the two countries. This is Than Shwe's first visit to Laos
since he assumes the post as SPDC Chairman in 1997.
Amidst a friendly and
cordial atmosphere, President Khamtay Siphandone praised and high valued the
visit to Laos by Myanmar's top delegation led by Senior General Than Shwe,
calling it a big contribution for strengthening the friendship and co-operation
relations between the two countries.
The bilateral meeting was held in
the afternoon of the same day and was attended by both Laos and Myanmar
high-ranking officials. The sides stressed the necessity to strengthen
co-operation between themselves. The meeting wound up by the signing of a
co-operation agreement.
Between 4.30- 5.00 pm of the same day, Mr. Samane
Viyakhet, President of the National Assembly ,and Mr. Boun Ngung Vorachit, Prime
Minister of the Lao's People Democratic Republic paid courtesy visits and
expressed their warm welcome to Senior General Than Shwe at the Presidential
Palace. A banquet was organised in the honour of Senior General Than Shwe, his
spouse and delegation.
On May 6 General Than Shwe, his spouse and
delegation leave Vientiane to visit southern province of Champassak, where the
Angkor type architecture Vat Phou is one of his destinations. Vat Phou
Champassak is the second world heritage site of the Lao PDR. The Myanmar
delegation is welcomed by the local authority and people of Champassak.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-05-06
Myanmar dissidents in Korea promoting democracy at
home
By Kim Ji-ho
Bucheon, Gyeonggi
Province, May 06: Like other illegal foreign workers, they help manufacture
furniture, electronics or work in rubber factories. They also suffer from low
wages, poor working conditions and threats of dismissal from
employers.
But they have a different aim - doing all they can to bring
democracy to their home country.
A group of 15 Myanmar dissidents
residing in Korea are promoting a campaign to put an end to the dictatorship of
their military government.
"We are here to promote our country's
situation and its democratic uprising so that the international community can
mount pressure on the Burmese military junta to end its dictatorship," said Nay
Tun Naing.
Naing, 34, is one of the 15 dissidents who are members of the
National League for Democracy, Myanmar's opposition party that is led by Aung
San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
"We spend more than half
of our salaries on party activities, but nobody complains, because our purpose
of being here is to liberate our country, not to live comfortably," Naing said
in a recent interview with The Korea Herald.
Like other members of his
party, Naing still calls his country Burma, although it was renamed Myanmar by
the military regime in 1989.
At the time, the change represented military
leaders' effort to improve their international image, which was tainted by a
series of bloody clampdowns on anti-government riots in 1988 that killed
thousands of Burmese people.
Naing was a student at Rangoon University
when the popular uprising occurred and was detained for months for his
involvement in a pro-democracy protest.
When he returned to university,
Naing found it harder to continue his extra-curricular activities because riot
police were posted all around campuses and universities were often forced to
close to deter student assemblies.
"I thought living abroad would be
better than being in prison," Naing recalled.
In 1994, he fled to Korea
and four years later established the "NLD Korean Branch" in Bucheon, a satellite
city southwest of Seoul.
But the Myanmar dissidents are finding it
difficult to promote the pro-democracy struggle effectively in Korea because of
restraints attendant on their predominantly illegal status.
The 15 NLD
members sought refuge here, but the Korean government which has a diplomatic
relationship with the military-backed Myanmar regime has never fully recognized
their activities.
Until early this year, the Seoul government had refused
to grant the NLD members refugee status, treating them as illegal
aliens.
As local rights groups consistently demanded that the Myanmar
dissidents be treated as political refugees, the government granted asylum for
three of them, including Naing, in January.
"It seems the Korean
government just doesn't want to face up to the rampant political tortures and
human rights abuses by the Burmese government," Naing said.
- Korea
Herald -
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Bangkok Post - Tuesday 06 May 2003
ANALYSIS /
BURMA AND AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Road to reform runs into dead-end
It is 12 months to the day since Aung San Suu Kyu was
freed from her second spell of house arrest. She has been granted more freedom
of movement since her release, and has held talks with the junta, but there has
been no progress towards democracy.
LARRY JAGAN
Burma's generals still
cling to power one year after Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, and
there is no reason to believe they have any intention of starting serious
political talks with the opposition leader.
Burma has changed little over
the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed. The country's fragile dialogue process
remains deadlocked and in danger of collapsing.
Burma's top generals insist
they are committed to economic and political reform but do little to show their
sincerity. The euphoria that surrounded the opposition leader's release a year
ago has given way to disappointment and frustration as Burma slips deeper into
crisis and despair.
``Ms Suu Kyi's release is seen as a signal that the
military regime is prepared to move on to the next stage of the national
reconciliation process: substantive talks with the opposition leader on the
country's political future,'' one senior Western diplomat said shortly after Ms
Suu Kyi's release. The UN envoy Razali Ismail, who convinced the generals to
free Ms Suu Kyi and helped broker the talks between the two sides, was sure the
military was ready for serious political negotiations and prepared to cooperate
with the National League for Democracy.
Twelve months later, these hopes
appear to have been dashed. Instead of progress, the two sides have slipped into
a war of words that is being fought through press conferences and press
releases.
Only a few days ago, Ms Suu Kyi went on the offensive and told
journalists at a press briefing at the NLD headquarters: ``I have come to the
conclusion that the SPDC [State Peace Development Council] is not interested in
national reconciliation.''
Throughout the past year, the opposition
leader has appealed to the generals to open concrete talks and stated that she
and the NLD were prepared to cooperate with the army. She has told them
repeatedly that the opposition does not see the military as the enemy.
``We do not want to be the enemy,'' she recently told the Bangkok Post
in Rangoon. ``We are in opposition to each other at the moment but we should
work together for the sake of the country, and we certainly bear no grudges
against them. We are not out for vengeance. We want to reach the kind of
settlement which will be beneficial to everybody, including the members of the
military.''
But the generals have so far rebuffed all the opposition
overtures. ``It's more than time to proceed from the confidence-building stage
to full cooperation, especially in the humanitarian area.,'' Ms Suu Kyi said two
weeks ago. ``The SPDC has shown that it is not keen to cooperate with us in
matters of humanitarian aid.''
Colonel Hla Min, the military government
spokesman, for his part, insists ``the government actively welcomes meaningful
and constructive suggestions from all its citizens in all areas of national
development, particularly in education, health-care and economic
development''.
Neither side seems able to take the initiative. The UN
envoy's insistence that Burma's political reform must be a home-grown process
has also waned over the past year.
``Neither side is able to talk
directly to the other,'' a senior Western diplomat involved in Burma said. ``And
that is the role Mr Razali can play.'' But Burma's military rulers have
continually rebuffed the envoy's repeated requests over the last three months to
return to Rangoon to help restart the talks. He usually visits Burma every three
months or so, but he has been denied access to Rangoon for more than six months.
In fact, it looks as though he will not be allowed back until early June at the
earliest.
The process of national reconciliation has clearly ground to a
halt. Burma's military leaders seem keen to drag the process out as long as
possible instead of talking to Ms Suu Kyi.
Faced with increased
international pressure _ the United States is in the process of extending
sanctions and banning all textile imports from Burma, and the European Union has
adopted tougher measures which will be implemented automatically in six months
time if there is no progress in the dialogue process _ Burma's top generals are
looking to their neighbours for support.
Senior General Than Shwe,
Burma's top leader, has been busy visiting as many countries around the region
as he can. In the past six months, he has visited Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and
Thailand. He's currently on a state visit to Laos. Other senior ministers,
including intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung,
have also been active whipping up support for the regime. Earlier this year, Win
Aung made an historic trip to India.
Burma's leaders have long told
Western government ministers and diplomats that they did not fear Western-led
sanctions as they expected to get all the trade, investment and aid they needed
from their neighbours. The reality, of course, is that this is not forthcoming.
In the last twelve months, the only Asean investment was the Malaysian petroleum
giant Petronas' buy-out of the British company Premier Oil's interests in Burma.
Although Bangladesh and India have some commercial interests in Burma, the only
significant regional investor in the country is China.
It is time Asean
governments reassessed their uncritical support for Rangoon. Privately, United
Nations officers say their credibility will be on the line if they continue to
put their heads in the sand.
But even after meeting Mr Razali last week
in Bangkok, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai continued to tell local
journalists that the dialogue process had not stalled and that Bangkok fully
supported Burma's national reconciliation process. But Thai officials privately
concede that the government is fully aware that there are no talks between the
two sides and that the whole process is in deep trouble.
Asean countries
have tried to avoid thinking about Burma. ``It's too divisive,'' one senior
Asean diplomat said. ``Countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam _ and Brunei _
will not criticise Myanmar [Burma] or allow pressure to be brought to bear on
issues like human rights and democratic reform.''
There currently is no
real incentive for the other Asean countries to take the initiative. But they
must change soon.
Burma will take over the presidency of Asean in 2006 _
and the annual summit will be held in Rangoon. ``It will highly embarrassing for
Asean to be led by one of the world's remaining military dictatorships,'' said a
senior UN official privately in New York.
But if the 12 months since Ms
Suu Kyi was freed are any indication, it is still going to be years before Burma
gets the democratic reform most Burmese people crave.
Asean leaders
could help speed that process up if privately, at two-way and multilateral
meetings, they began to put real pressure on Burma's generals to implement
economic and political reform.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Straits Times - MAY 6, 2003
TUE
Suu Kyi still politically shackled one year on
By Shefali Rekhi
HER release from
house arrest last May was to have heralded the beginning of a new chapter in
Myanmar's history, with talk of political liberalisation and a loosening of the
political grip of the junta.
But a year on, opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi is still struggling with shackles that impede her political
freedom.
There has been no political dialogue and the military junta has
made no effort at reconciliation.
Progress in reorganising her party -
the National League for Democracy (NLD) - has also been slow, her supporters
say.
Members of the public who come forward to attend public meetings at
places outside Yangon have been questioned, and some have had their jobs
terminated, party spokesman U Lwin told The Straits Times from
Yangon.
The NLD's means to communicate with the masses has also been
severely restrained. The party's request to print a fortnightly journal has been
turned down, and its headquarters in Yangon has been banned from using
photocopiers, the Internet and fax machines.
Meanwhile, over a hundred of
the party's supporters remain political prisoners.
'We don't have any
plans for the first anniversary,' Mr Lwin said when asked about celebrations
today, the date that Ms Suu Kyi was released after 19 months of
confinement.
'There is still so much to do.'
Ms Suu Kyi's release
had raised expectations of a move towards democratic rule and greater freedom in
Myanmar society.
But little of that has happened. Sharing her
displeasure, the Nobel peace laureate said at a media briefing in Yangon
recently: 'When I was released, it was agreed between the authorities and
ourselves that... we should go on to a more advanced stage of our
relationship.
'But I do not think there has been any
progress.'
While the general conditions depress Suu Kyi supporters, there
is at least one piece of good news.
Party officials at the headquarters
are no longer harassed and Ms Suu Kyi is allowed to move about the country,
after giving 48-hour notice to the authorities - essentially so that they can
ensure her security, he said.
But on many other accounts, the NLD is
hoping for more.
Ms Suu Kyi's priority remains the start of the political
dialogue process, the release of political prisoners and ensuring the security
of her people.
While she has been able to open 100 offices for NLD in the
past year, she is waiting for permission to open another 100. In all, 300
offices were needed to be functional, Mr Lwin said.
At its peak, the
party boasted of a membership of over two million. Today, there are less than
175,000 members.
'The NLD is not very strong today,' he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------