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News from Indian Papers



NO change in junta's attitude, says Suu Kyi
The Hindu
Dec 23, 1997

The Myanmarese opposition leader, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, said in an
interview published today that a drive launched last month by the
country's junta to root out corruption in its ranks had not led to any
change in its attitude towards the opposition.
 
"I don't know whether it's a whitewash act or they are trying to find
scapegoats for their own economic failings," she said in The Guardian.
 
She said some junta members "seem to have fallen out and  disappeared from
the scene but I don't see any changes in their attitudes towards us. I
don't know if they are nervous, but they certainly seem as if they are on
the defensive," she said, adding: "Why else would they say it is the NLD's
(opposition National League for Democracy) fault that foreign investment
is not coming in?" (AFP)
 
Burma Junta Will Not Let Gop Of Power: Suu Kyi
The Asian Age
Dec. 23, 1997
 
London, Dec. 22: Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in an
interview published on Monday the military government was as determined as
ever to hang on to power and rebuff pressure for democracy.
 
Britain's Guardian newspaper said the interview took place at Ms. Suu
Kyi's home in Rangoon just days after several of her colleagues in the
National League for Democracy were sentenced to lengthy jail terms and the
military authorities accused the NLD of scaring away foreign investors.
 
"I don't know if they the military government are nervous, but they
certainly seems as if they are on the defensive," said Ms. Suu Kyi, the
NLD leader.
 
"They said they were a military government and they were not going to
bring in democracy yet," Ms. Suu Kyi said.
 
"They said they don't like us giving out statements, and that actions
could be taken against us. They want us gagged, bound and impotent," she
added.
 
A Senior NLD member said on Friday the Opposition was "scolded" at
Thursday's meeting with the military government.
 
Mr. Tin Oo, NLD vice-chairman, said the meeting between several members of
the State Peace and Development Council and NLD executive council members
was intended to warn the NLD not to disrupt the peace of the nation.
 
"I consider it merely a scolding," Mr. Tin said. "They accused us of
disrupting peace by issuing statements, but why can't we say that our men
are being arrested and sentenced without defence?" he added.
 
Last week, the SPDC said it had sentenced seven NLD members, including two
who were elected to parliament in an annulled 1990 election, to long
prison terms.
 
This enraged the NLD, which said the sentencing was illegal because the
government did not allow the accused to engage lawyers. The NLD said they
were merely acting as members of a legitimate opposition party. All the
accused were arrested in connection with meetings planned by Nobel Peace
laureate Suu Kyi at NLD offices in townships outside Rangoon. The
government had prevented most of the meetings from taking place.
 
The SPDC had said that during the talks on Thursday, the NLD was told to
stop holding mass gatherings or miss losing meaningful dialogue.
 
It also wanted the NLD to refrain from making accusations and statements
against the government's security measures.
 
"If they keep on doing this , the chances of dialogue and national
reconciliation, which the NLD has been talking about, would go further and
further away," the SPDC said.
 
Mr. Tin Oo dismissed the remarks as the government's version of the
meeting. "They are writing it as they like," he said. He said NLD chairman
Aung Shwe declined the government's invitation to join talks on Thursday
because Ms. Suu Kyi was not included.
 
The NLD said meaningful dialogue between the two sides must include the
party's co-founder Suu Kyi who has been seeking a dialogue with the
government since she was freed from six years of hose arrest in July 1995.
 
The NLD officials last met government leaders in July, when Aung Shwe and
two central committee members met the powerful Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, to
discuss political issues. (Reuters)

Burma Info.
New Delhi.