Wired News: Burma - Suu Kyi (AP)

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   By ROBERT HORN
 Associated Press Writer
   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- The crowds of well-wishers outside the home of dissident leader
Aung San Suu Kyi grew Saturday, even though word of her release hasn't appeared in
Burma's state-run media.
   To keep the swelling crowd from blocking traffic, police were posted for the first time outside
the ramshackle house that was her prison for almost six years until Monday.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi, 50, was visited by foreign diplomats, and she consoled the family of an activist
who was jailed earlier this year for singing pro-democracy songs at the funeral of former
Prime Minister U Nu.
   In what has become a daily ritual, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate came to the gate in the
mid-afternoon to speak to the well-behaved crowd.
   "Your presence shows the people are behind me," she told them. "I will never betray my
country and my people. I am very busy, but I am working for my country and not myself."
   "It is so!" the crowd replied, in a vivid demonstration of her almost legendary capacity to
command the loyalty of the masses.
   "Can you be disciplined?" she asked, and they shouted back: "Yes, we can!"
   "Can you be courageous?" she asked, and they shouted back: "Yes, we can!"
   "Can you be smart? If you are smart, we will reach our goal without any danger," she said.
   "Yes, we can!" they replied.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's party won a general election in 1990, but the military refused to let it take
power. Officers have said they will not transfer power to civilians until a new constitution has
been drafted, but they have given no timetable. Selected political groups are working on a
new charter, but opponents say the convention is a sham and want the document scrapped.
   Since her release, Mrs. Suu Kyi has taken a non-confrontational stand toward the military
authorities.
   She has not said when she would make a major public appearance or whether she would
attend the Martyrs Day ceremony Wednesday commemorating the assassination of the
heroes of Burmese independence, including her father, Aung San. Disturbances are
possible if she attends.
   In an indirect official commentary on political developments, a recent series of essays in
the state-owned New Light of Myanmar (Burma) newspaper has criticized groups opposed to
the military as undemocratic. The essays were signed by Nawratha, believed to be a pen
name for a senior military officer.
   The top government leaders, Gen. Than Shwe and Gen. Khin Nyunt, attended a meeting of
police commanders Friday, the newspaper reported Saturday. Than Shwe told the meeting
that the army "brings peace of mind, tranquility and security to the people."
   Saturday's essay asked: "Is this immense force (the army) to be denied a role on the
political stage and forced into the role of a mere spectator? Is it to be kept a mere
ornament?"
   The state-owned press still has not reported Mrs. Suu Kyi's release, and no military official
has agreed to meet with foreign journalists.
   Burma had a parliamentary democracy after gaining independence from Britain in 1948. In
1962, Gen. Ne Win seized power in a military coup, and repression and economic ruin under
socialist policies followed.
   In 1988, troops shot dead hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people to quell mass
pro-democracy rallies led by Mrs. Suu Kyi. She was put under house arrest the following
year.
   Since her release, Mrs. Suu Kyi has called for national reconciliation.
   "We must never forget that the people of the Burmese army are part of the people," she told
reporters Friday night. "And while the experience of war may have brutalized some, it does
not mean the whole army is irredeemable."
   "I do not dislike them," she said. "That is why perhaps I am not afraid of them."