REUTER; SUU KYI SURE TO VICTORY

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SATURDAY FORUM: SUU KYI SURE TO VICTORY
 
 (recasts with Suu kyi's Sunday afternoon speech to crowd)
     RANGOON, June 9 (Reuter) - Burma's pro-democracy opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi maintained a slightly softer line in her campaign for
change in a speech to supporters on Sunday, but said with the support of
the people, victory was inevitable.
     But the ruling military government gave no indication it might open
talks with the opposition, continuing its verbal attacks on Suu Kyi and her
National League for Democracy (NLD) party and repeating a warning it would
not tolerate dissent.
     Suu Kyi told a cheering crowd of some 4,000 people lining the street
outside her Rangoon home that, with their help, she was confident of
success.
     "With the support and cooperation of the people everything we do is
going to be successful," she said. "There will be victory."
     But Suu Kyi and two senior NLD colleagues refrained from direct
criticism of the ruling military body, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), apparently in response to a tough new law against
opposition introduced on Friday.
     She had also refrained from any harsh criticism of the military
government in her speech on Saturday.
     "They're toning it down," said one Burmese man who has attended the
weekly gatherings outside Suu Kyi's home since the first one, shortly after
she was released from six years house arrest in July last year.
     There was no obvious heavy security presence at the gathering, no
arrests and the crowd dispersed quickly at the end of the hour-long event.
     The SLORC's new law, which appeared aimed directly at the NLD, calls
for up to 20 years in prison for anyone who acts or distributes information
deemed likely to undermine the stability of the state, community peace and
tranquility and the prevalence of law and order.
     The SLORC backed up the tough new law with another warning that it
would not put up with "destructive" activities.
     Senior SLORC member Lieutenant-General Tin Oo said in a speech on
Saturday that the government was working for peace and tranquility.
     "We are working for the betterment of the country, but today one can
see that destructive activities are being carried out to disintegrate the
country. We will not tolerate (such) activities ... People will also not
tolerate it," he added.
     Tension has been rising in Burma since late last month when Suu Kyi
called a meeting of the NLD, the first party congress since her relase from
house arrest last year.
     More than 250 NLD members were detained in an unsuccessful effort to
thwart the meeting at Suu Kyi's home in Rangoon.
     A defiant Suu Kyi wound up the three days of talks with an
announcement that the NLD would draft a democratic constitution to rival
the pro-military charter being drawn up by a SLORC-appointed convention.
     The SLORC responded with a series of blunt warnings in speeches and
the state-run media, which culminated in Friday's law which also bans any
attempt to draw up an alternative constitution.
     The SLORC also began organising mass rallies across the country where
speakers regularly denounced "destructionists."
     Diplomats in Rangoon say many of those attending the rallies are
forced to do so. Suu Kyi has dismissed them as "a farce."
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