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NLD LEADERS' STATEMENT TO MARK ELEC



For release on: May 26, 1998

MEDIA RELEASE:
NLD LEADERS STAND FIRM FOR DIALOGUE

Bangkok, Tuesday: - On the eve of the 8th anniversary of their party?s
landslide win, the leaders of Burma?s National League for Democracy
reiterated their stand that political dialogue was the way forward out of
the country?s problems. The leaders also ruled out revenge against the
military regime.

In a rare interview held recently in Rangoon which featured U Aung Shwe
(Chairman), Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (General Secretary) and U Tin U (Deputy
Chairman), all three leaders agreed that dialogue was the way to resolve
Burma?s troubles.

U Aung Shwe said: "...the people suffer because there are now political
problems, economic problems and cultural problems. All these problems
cannot be solved without meeting each other and talking to each other."

U Tin U described tripartite dialogue as the country?s only solution.
"Therefore we very much desire to have a dialogue with our democratic
forces led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the ethnic races, as well as the
present military regime."

Ms Suu Kyi said that the regime should not regard dialogue as an admission
of defeat. "We think that to accept dialogue would be to display strength
by the government, to show that they have strength and courage to do what
is in the best for the country.

"We want dialogue because we want to find a solution that is best for
everybody ... particularly for the people of Burma and also for the
government, and those who are in the opposition at the moment. We do not
want revenge, we do not think there is anything particularly honourable or
admirable about seeking revenge, we want to find a peaceful settlement
 ...we remain committed to dialogue. It may be difficult to get there, but
we?re determined to get that. And we?re absolutely confident that we shall
get that."

Referring to the anniversary of the elections in which the NLD won 82 % of
parliamentary seats, Ms Suu Kyi added: "It is 8 years since the elections
have been ignored by the authorities, but we still stand by the promises
that we made to our people then."

U Aung Shwe said the people voted for the NLD because they believed it was
capable of fulfiling its election manifesto which still aims to restore
democracy to the country, establish an open market economy, allow freedom
of religion, freedom of education, freedom of speech and other democratic
principles.
											ENDS
Text of statement follows

For more information, please contact:
tel. (66 2) 275 1811, tel/fax (66 2) 693 4515 or <altsean@xxxxxxxxxx>

------------------------------
STATEMENT BY LEADERS OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY (NLD)
TO MARK THE 8TH ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR ELECTION VICTORY

U AUNG SHWE (CHAIRMAN)
DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI (GENERAL SECRETARY)
U TIN U (DEPUTY CHAIRMAN)

FOR RELEASE ON MAY 26, 1998

U AUNG SHWE: The NLD participated in the democratic general elections held
in May 1990. We won 82 per cent of the seats. That?s a great majority.
Without the confidence of the people, we could not get so many votes. It?s
quite a lot. We are very thankful to the voters for voting for the NLD.

At that time, we issued a manifesto, as you know, for this election. The
political objective is to have democracy in our country. As for the
economy, we want an open market economy. And for the cultural side, we want
freedom of religion, freedom of education, freedom of speech and all these
democratic principles. I think because of those things and because the
people believe that we can do it, they voted for us. 

We entered the election according to the election rules, the election law
published by the authorities, and in that law there is one section, Section
3, which says that categorically that the parliament must inform the
winning MPs that they have won the elections, but nothing has happened so
far. It is very regrettable. It is a very sad state of affairs. And I think
the people are very dissatisfied with that.

DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI: It is now 8 years since the elections of 1990 in
which the people of Burma decided, by voting for the NLD, that they wanted
a democratic system. It is 8 years since the elections have been ignored by
the authorities, but we still stand by the promises that we made to our
people then. 

We want to work for democracy not because democracy is some kind of magic
word, or some kind of magic state, but because we believe this is the only
way we can resolve the social, economic and political problems of our country.

 ... nobody can deny we are in an economic mess. Prices are increasing all
the time, the incomes of the people are not keeping pace with inflation,
there are more and more poor people in the countryside. There are some
very, very rich people and that in itself is bad because that means there
is a greater gap between the very rich and the great majority of the
people, who are poor.

We also have social problems, the greatest which is our lack of proper
education. The universities have been closed since December 1996 and there
is a backlog of students waiting to get into university. The health care
system is in a shambles. There are so many things wrong with the country.
This is why we want to get to democracy as quickly as possible, to resolve
all these problems. We believe that with a government that is accountable
to the people and has the confidence not only of our country but of the
international community we will be able to resolve both our economic and
social problems, not to speak of the political problems which of course
will be automatically resolved once we achieve our democratic goal. 

Now Burma is suffering from lack of investment. The NLD stands for
sanctions against investment in Burma at the moment, because we do not
believe that investment now helps the people in any way. If there is an
accountable government that will spend the revenues earned in a responsible
way and decide on an investment policy that is beneficial to the public at
large, certainly then we shall encourage investment and we will be able to
get over quite a lot of the present problems.

(Then) we will be able to open the universities. Why are the universities
closed now? This is because the government is nervous that if they reopen
the universities there will be unrest among the students. Then we have to
ask another question, Why is do they think there will be unrest among the
students? Unrest only comes when there is discontent. If we can create a
situation in which the students as well as the public at large can be
satisfied, then there is no need to fear unrest.

So, we want to work for the reopening of the universities, for the
establishment of an economic system that is fair and will lead to sustained
economic development, and we want to work for a system in which the great
majority of our people who live in the rural areas will be able to achieve
progress and prosperity. Our farmers are suffering at the moment from a
lack of an equitable agricultural policy. We have to look to all this.

Democracy for us is a means to an end, it?s a way of creating peace and
prosperity for our country. We are absolutely confident that once we are
able to achieve our political goal we will be able to achieve the economic
and social goals that are common to all of us in Burma.

I do not believe that anyone in Burma wishes our country to be poor, I do
not think it (the regime) wishes our people to be uneducated or
semi-educated. As soon as we come to some kind of settlement with the
authorities we are absolutely confident that the National League for
Democracy will be in the position to call for the kind of proper investment
that will lead to the prosperity of our people. The National League for
Democracy will have the courage to reopen the universities and make sure
that the education of our young people is not jeopardized in any way by
political problems. We are confident that we?ll be able to create a health
care system that will truly take care of our people, not just of the rich
and the privileged.

U AUNG SHWE: Political dialogue has been consistently requested, but so far
we have not been successful yet. But if it goes on like this forever, I
think the people suffer because there are now political problems, economic
problems and cultural problems. All these problems cannot be solved without
meeting each other and talking to each other. We are very sorry that
nothing has come about yet.

DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI: We are committed to dialogue, we think this is the
only way to resolve the problems of our country. There are those (members
of the government) who think that accepting dialogue is an admission of
defeat. We do not think this is so. We think that to accept dialogue would
be to display strength by the government, to show that they have strength
and courage to do what is in the best for the country.

We want dialogue because we want to find a solution that is best for
everybody, that is to say particularly for the people of Burma and also for
the government, and those who are in the opposition at the moment. We do
not want revenge, we do not think there is anything particularly honourable
or admirable about seeking revenge, we want to find a peaceful settlement
 ...we remain committed to dialogue. It may be difficult to get there, but
we?re determined to get that. And we?re absolutely confident that we shall
get that.

U TIN U: ...we will never seek for any form of revenge to anybody, and we
will never seek for any retaliatory action ... searching for revenge is
showing something like cowardice.

Dialogue is the only way that can solve all the problems  in our country.
Therefore we very much desire to have a dialogue with our democratic forces
led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the ethnic races, as well as the present
military regime.

U TIN U: There is no rule of law and there is no independence of the
judiciary system here. Regarding human rights, there is no change. Even
though the SLORC government has changed its name, there is no change, it is
like putting the new foot in the old boot ... after they change their name
there are quite a lot of clear cases where they have started doing another
kind of harassment of human rights 

And now, those people under imprisonment in the Insein jail have been
dispersed, (some) remain in Insein jail, but the rest have been taken away
and transferred to other far away prisons such as Myitkyina, Myingyan and
other places. The leader of our youth have been transferred to the very far
away prison such as Kalaymyo, which is, how shall we say, torturous, too
far away to have any sort of link with their family. The family cannot
manage to meet even though they are allowed a fortnight interview. The
legal system in Burma has become a casualty of the present regime.



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