Reuters-Myanmar Rulers Close Off Mo

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Myanmar Rulers Close Off Most Sacred Shrine 
08:39 a.m. Aug 26, 1998 Eastern 

By Aung Hla Tun 

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government blocked off the country's
most sacred Buddhist shrine Wednesday on the 10th anniversary of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi's maiden speech for democracy, witnesses said. 

Security forces closed all entrances to the Shwedagon Pagoda, a magnificent
100-metre golden stupa in the center of Yangon and fenced of the
surrounding area, they said. 

Diplomats in the capital said the aim was apparently to prevent attempts to
commemorate the 1988 uprising for democracy, which the country's military
rulers crushed at a cost of several thousand lives, according to most
independent estimates. 

Diplomats said the official explanation given for closing the legendary
pagoda was ``special cleaning.'' Security policemen armed with batons were
stationed at each of its four main gates. 

On Aug. 26, 1988, some 700,000 people rallied at the Shwedagon to hear a
speech by Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's assassinated independence hero
Aung San. 

Suu Kyi, who had returned to Myanmar to nurse her dying mother and had no
political track record, called the democracy uprising Myanmar's ``second
struggle for independence.'' She went on to become the leader of the
movement and was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. 

Her National League for Democracy won 1990 general elections by a
landslide, but the military ignored the results. It has since tried to
grind down the opposition through a long campaign of arrests and
intimidation, diplomats and dissidents say. 

But in recent weeks the opposition has become increasing assertive and last
week vowed to call a ``People's Parliament'' as the military had ignored
its demand to do so. 

On Tuesday, authorities stationed riot police around the capital to guard
against a repeat of protests by university students Monday, the first such
street demonstrations in more than a year. 

The protests came the same day as Suu Kyi ended a 13-day roadside protest
against restrictions on her movements. 

An NLD source said Suu Kyi was being treated by her doctors and her health
was improving after the exhausting standoff. 


Diplomats said the NLD was likely to wait for Suu Kyi's recovery before
proceeding with its pledge to call parliament, something the government has
said would be against the law. 

On Tuesday the government, which calls itself the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), told foreign military attaches it would not
allow the opposition to form a parliament or enter talks with Suu Kyi, a
diplomat said. 

It argued that Suu Kyi, the NLD general secretary, and Tin Oo, the party's
vice chairman, had been officially stripped of their posts in 1990, he
said. 

The NLD held its first meeting with senior members of the government eight
days ago but said afterwards it was informal and did not constitute a
``dialogue,'' which it said could not take place without Suu Kyi. 

The ruling generals have long refused to talk to Suu Kyi, who has been the
biggest thorn in their side since they took power. 

State newspapers said Home Affairs Minister Tin Hlaing had warned the NLD
Monday to ``avoid acts which will undermine stability and peace and the
rule of law.''