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SCMP-110 members of opposition held



South China Morning Post
Tuesday  September 8  1998

110 members of opposition held 

WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok 
The leading opposition party said yesterday the military had arrested 110
of its MPs and officials to try to derail its plans to convene parliament
this month.



Diplomats and opposition sources said it appeared to be the start of a
widely predicted crackdown designed to stop the National League for
Democracy (NLD) creating an alternative power centre.



"This is a pre-emptive strike - if the NLD attempts to call parliament
there will be no-one there," said a Western diplomat in Rangoon.



"Whether this will stop the NLD leadership making the gesture anyway, I
don't know."



Observers have warned the two sides appear to be on a collision course.



Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been using the threat of a "people's
parliament" to pressure the ruling generals into political negotiations.



A government spokesman admitted last night that many party members had been
"taken in for questioning" over the past two days.



He also issued a thinly-veiled threat to Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and the other
party leaders by warning that the Government would "take appropriate action
if they convene parliament".



The political temperature has been raised in recent days by the biggest
student protests for two years.



Hundreds of students at the Yangon Institute of Technology complained first
about the regime keeping universities closed since late 1996, but also
called for an end to military rule.



"Given the level of repression, this is an extraordinary signal to the
Army. They want to keep the pressure on the SPDC [State Peace and
Development Council, the junta]," a member of the student underground said.



The campus was reported to be quiet yesterday as students took exams.



The All Burma Students Democratic Front in Bangkok said protesters had been
forced on to buses which ferried them to the examination halls.



The NLD said 50 of its MPs and 60 officials had been arrested.



One of the detained MPs was 84-year-old Thakin Khin Nyunt, one of the
founding members of the main anti-colonial resistance organisation, the
Dobama Asiayone.



Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's party won 392 of the 485 seats in the 1990 general
election, easily defeating the other 92 parties, including one representing
the military.



The ruling junta simply ignored the result.



It currently claims no parliament can be called until a new constitution
has been drawn up.



It is not clear how many MPs are likely to try to make their way to Rangoon
to support Ms Aung San Suu Kyi.



The party's other elected representatives have dropped out, been jailed,
exiled or have died.



The authorities have placed travel restrictions on opposition MPs for
several weeks to try to stop them travelling to Rangoon.



Police and military intelligence have also stepped up their checks on
households.