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NEWS - Yangon Quiet as Suu Kyi Pays (r)
Rangoon Post Co-Editor wrote:
>
> Yangon Quiet as Suu Kyi Pays Martyrs' Day Respects
>
> Reuters
> 19-JUL-98
>
> YANGON, July 19 (Reuters)- Myanmar's capital Yangon was
> quiet and
> security relaxed as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi paid
> respects at her
> father's tomb in Yangon on Sunday morning as the country
> commemorated
> its annual Martyrs' Day.
>
> The ruling government had recently warned opposition groups
> against
> fuelling rumours there would be unrest in the city either
> this Sunday or on
> August 8, the 10th anniversary of the 1988 student protests
> which were
> crushed by the military.
>
> Suu Kyi arrived at the Martyrs' Mausoleum near the foot of
> the central
> Shwedegon Pagoda Hill this morning in a black
> government-arranged sedan.
>
> For the fourth consecutive Martyrs' Day ceremony Suu Kyi was
> accompanied
> by Colonel Than Tun, a senior government intelligence
> officer who has acted
> as her liaison since her release from house arrest on July
> 10, 1995.
>
> Dressed in a traditional black longyi (sarong), white blouse
> and black scarf,
> 53-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate Suu Kyi knelt and placed
> three baskets of
> flowers before the tomb.
>
> Suu Kyi's father General Aung San, the architect of
> Myanmar's
> independence from Britain, six of his cabinet colleagues, a
> secretary and a
> bodyguard were gunned down on July 19, 1947 while holding a
> meeting six
> months before the country's independence.
>
> Top government generals from the ruling State Peace and
> Development
> Council (SPDC) did not attend this morning's ceremony but
> were
> represented by the Minister of Culture Win Sein and other
> government
> officials.
>
> They laid a wreath on behalf of the SPDC chairman, Senior
> General Than
> Shwe.
>
> Suu Kyi's opposition party the National League for
> Democracy, which won a
> landslide general election victory in 1990 that was never
> recognised by the
> government, also marked the day with a ceremony.
>
> About 500 guests, including party members, foreign diplomats
> and some
> veteran politicians gathered inside Suu Kyi's lakeside
> residence for a
> commemoration but no speeches were made.
>
> Security arrangements near Suu Kyi's residence were more
> relaxed than
> normal and there were no reports of disturbances elsewhere
> in the city.