Opposition stand-off, foreign detai

[byva@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Opposition stand-off, foreign detainees mean little to Myanmar: analysts

       Thu 13 Aug 98 - 12:44 GMT 

       BANGKOK, Aug 13 (AFP) - Stand-offs with Nobel peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi and strong criticism from
       foreign powers mean little to Myanmar's junta as long as its people
remain satisified with their meagre lives,
       analysts said Thursday.

       "Lots of people don't even have TVs, never mind satellite dishes (to
receive foreign broadcasts)," said one foreign
       analyst based in Yangon, although many listen to foreign radio
broadcasts, including in their own language.

       "Outside the cities, they don't know about these conflicts and, if they
did, they couldn't care less. They are poor
       people and one woman in a Toyota or a bunch of foreigners on a junket
don't mean anything."

       National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi was locked
in a roadside confrontation with
       officials for a second consecutive night Thursday, while 18 foreign
activists were spending their fifth day in military
       custody for allegedly attempting to incite unrest.

       Although many western governments oppose the junta and have expressed
strong support for Aung San Suu Kyi,
       some diplomats there said they were concerned about her tactics and
dismissed the foreign activists outright as
       rabble-rousers.

       "I think we are all a bit tired of the foreign detainees," said another
western diplomat.

       "Okay, they made their point. But most of them are from Asia and they
know that discretion is the key."

       Some of the foreigners who were detained Sunday were apprehended while
driving down major Yangon roads
       throwing leaflets from their taxis' windows in support of human rights
and democracy.

       "Apart from anything else, it's littering," said the diplomat.

       Bangkok-based organisers of the protest have denied the activists
intended to get arrested, but diplomats said they
       had serious doubts.

       "As far as I know, they all arrived at basically the same time, they
all stayed at the same hotel and most of them were
       seen talking to foreign journalists," added an official from an embassy
whose nationals were not involved in the
       incident.

       The protestors wore pro-democracy t-shirts marking the 10th anniversary
Saturday of a military crack-down on
       pro-democracy demonstartors which left thousands dead, according to
unofficial tolls.

       "If a group of Iraqis turned up in Washington doing the same sort of
thing, do you think the authorities there would
       just ignore it?," the diplomat added.

       "We don't know for sure, but it seems no Burmese were arrested at the
same time," they said, using the former name
       for citizens of Myanmar.

       "That either means they were too scared -- which would account for some
-- or that they didn't care, which would
       acccount for others."

       With the country's economy in a shambles and the power and water
supplies even to Yangon and other cities erratic,
       Myanmar people had other things to worry about in one of the poorest
countries in the world.

       "The currency is worth next to nothing, the price of rice is going up,"
said a diplomat at the embassy of another
       country in the region.

       "There could be a shortage of rice if things don't work out this
season.

       "Food is the key issue, not politics. You could say food is politics."

       Diplomats said Aung San Suu Kyi continued to enjoy a high level of
support across the country, but much of that was
       due to the popularity of her father, independence her Genral Aung San.

       He was assassinated, along with his fledgling cabinet, just months
before Myanmar became independent from Britain
       in 1948.

       "They love her," added one. "A lot of them don't know what she is
talking about but they love her for who she is and
       the hope she (presents).

       "Most people don't understand what democracy is about, but they don't
understand what a junta is about, and they
       already have one of those."

                                                                              
          ©AFP 1998

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