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"I will be Burmese to the day I die



Suu Kyi says Burma's democracy movement neither dead nor dormant 

 By ROBERT HORN=
 Associated Press Writer=
   BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Burmese democracy advocate Aung San Suu
Kyi says her political party is neither dead nor dormant despite
increased arrests and repression by the military government.
   She also said she believes her movement has substantial support
within Burma's armed forces.
   Suu Kyi made the comments in a rare videotaped interview
smuggled out of Burma and seen in Bangkok on Monday. The regime no
longer allows journalists to meet with the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner and has severely restricted her movements as it has steadily
stepped up repression against her party since last October.
   Suu Kyi said arrests of her party's members, and forced
resignation of its members of parliament, were proof it was still
active despite attempts by the State Law and Order Restoration
Council _ the government's official name _ to crush it.
   ``We are not a dormant party. That is why we are being harassed
by SLORC. If we were dead and done for, SLORC wouldn't bother to
arrest anybody,'' Suu Kyi said.
   ``They know we are a powerful force within the country, which is
why they have placed so many restrictions on us,'' she added.
   Suu Kyi held out hope that a compromise eventually will be
worked out with the military government, and noted that during the
1990 elections her party, the National League for Democracy, had
scored victories in districts heavily populated by army personnel.
   ``I believe we have strong support within the army,'' she said.
   Military government leaders, however, ignored the election
results.
   Suu Kyi played down a meeting last month between Gen. Khin
Nyunt, the head of military intelligence, and her party's chairman,
Aung Shwe, that some interpreted as a prelude to a dialogue between
the NLD and the military. It was the first meeting between a SLORC
general and her party's officials in years.
   ``At best we could think of it as a sounding out to see whether
dialogue is possible,'' Suu Kyi said. ``At worst it could be aimed
at trying to create a split in the party.''
   She also discounted any possibility that the military could
exclude her from talks.
   ``According to the mandate of the NLD, any dialogue between the
NLD and the SLORC must include me,'' she said.
   Suu Kyi said her democratic movement was gaining from Burma's
deteriorating economy _ its currency has lost more than 90 percent
of its value in the last year and inflation is running at more than
40 percent _ and the regime's newspaper attacks on her.
   ``Sometimes I think SLORC does half our work for us, the way
they are unable to handle the economy, and the way in which they
attack us so viciously in the press. That gets us a lot of
sympathy,'' she said.
   Suu Kyi also said she believes that despite the regime's
shrugging off economic sanctions imposed by President Clinton, the
military is very concerned about relations with the United States.
   ``Otherwise they wouldn't waste so much energy attacking them,''
she said.
   Asked why she continued to fight for democracy in the face of
overwhelming odds, Suu Kyi it was to help people she loved and
cared about.
   She also dismissed attempts by the military government to
portray her as a foreigner because she is married to a British
academic.
   ``I'll be Burmese to the day I die,'' Suu Kyi said.
080907 sep 97