Wired News: Burma-Dissident (AP)

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   By AYE AYE WIN
 Associated Press Writer
   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi said Sunday she would
attend Wednesday's Martyrs Day ceremony, her first major public appearance since she
was freed last week from six years of house arrest.
   The ceremony commemorates the 1947 assassinations of Mrs. Suu Kyi's father, Aung San,
and other heroes of Burmese independence from Britain.
   Since Mrs. Suu Kyi was released last Monday, hundreds of supporters have gathered daily
outside her lakeside home. She has come outside to speak with them and has met privately
with reporters, diplomats and other leaders of her party, but has not otherwise appeared in
public.
   Given her popularity and her role as the symbol of Burmese dissent, Burma's military
leaders are likely to take extra security precautions at the Martyrs Day ceremony.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi said she did not expect any disturbances. "I have never had an undisciplined
crowd," she said.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi, 50, has taken a non-confrontational stance toward Burma's military
government since she was released. She has urged military leaders to join her in talks on
national reconciliation, remaining mostly at her residence and saying she is busy "working
for my country."
   On Sunday, she spoke to a crowd of about 400 people gathered despite a monsoon rain
outside her house. She also met with about 40 members of her extended family for a
Buddhist ceremony commemorating one of Aung San's brothers, who was assassinated with
him.
   On Saturday, she went to the residence of Japanese Ambassador Takashi Tajima for
lunch, Japanese journalists said. Details were not available.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest after leading huge pro-democracy
demonstrations in 1988. Hundreds of people died when the military crushed the protests.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, easily won a general election in
1990, but the military refused to let it take power. The government has said it will transfer
some power to civilians when a new constitution is drafted, but has given no timetable.
   Each year, government officials, foreign diplomats and hundreds of ordinary Burmese
attend the Martyrs Day ceremony, in which wreaths are laid at the Martyrs Mausoleum near
the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of Burma's best-known tourist sites.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi last attended in 1988, after returning from many years abroad. She boycotted
the 1989 ceremony, and the next day the military placed her under house arrest. In 1991, she
won the Nobel Peace Prize.