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Ne Win's In Indonesia



 The Associated Press  

JAKARTA, <A HREF="aol://4344:30.GR_Indon.5268890.541962000">Indonesia</A>
(AP) - Making his first public appearance in eight years, Burma's former
military dictator Ne Win shook hands and hugged Indonesia's President Suharto
when the two old friends met for dinner Tuesday night. 

Ne Win ruled Burma with an iron hand for 26 years after overthrowing a
democratically elected government in 1962. 

Many Burmese believe the 86-year-old Ne Win still exercises control over
Burma's present military government, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, which succeeded him in September 1988, gunning down more than 3,000
pro-democracy protesters in the process. 

Ne Win flew in from Rangoon on an Indonesian executive jet Tuesday afternoon
for a brief private visit. 

``We Indonesians are highly appreciative of your dedication and services in
bringing understanding to our two nations and people,'' Suharto said through
a translator at Jakarta's presidential palace. 

Suharto, a former army general who came to power after he crushed an abortive
communist coup in 1965, has known Ne Win for about three decades. Ne Win
looked frail and pale as he walked beside the Indonesian leader. 

Suharto praised his guest for helping Burma to join the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations this year - a move opposed by Western countries
critical of Burma's poor human rights record. 

Indonesian officials said Ne Win is to visit the grave of Suharto's wife Tien
in the city of Solo on Wednesday then fly on to Singapore for a routine
medical checkup Thursday. 

Critics say during his years in power, Ne Win drove resource-rich Burma into
poverty with an isolationist policy. On July 23, 1988, he stepped down in the
midst of a nationwide democracy uprising that saw the emergence of Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi as its leader. 

In his final public speech, he warned the demonstrators that ``when the army
shoots, it shoots to hit.'' 

Chroniclers of the uprising have written that Suu Kyi was placed under six
years of house arrest after she publicly criticized Ne Win by name. 

AP-NY-09-23-97 1303EDT