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Reuters-FOCUS-Myanmar papers seek S



FOCUS-Myanmar papers seek Suu Kyi deportation 
12:29 a.m. Sep 08, 1998 Eastern 

By Aung Hla Tun 



YANGON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Myanmar's state-controlled newspapers on Tuesday
called on the military government to deport opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, saying she was a foreigner trying to destabilise the country. 



The call came a day after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
said the authorities had detained 110 of its members since Sunday in a move
to prevent the party from calling a ``People's Parliament.'' 



A commentary carried in the Myanmar-language Myanmar Alin (Light of
Myanmar) and Kyemon (Mirror) newspapers was attributed to ``an advocate.'' 



It accused Suu Kyi of trying to destabilise the country and said her
marriage to an Englishman made her a foreigner. Her husband, Michael Aris,
is an academic. 



``Therefore I would like to request the government most humbly on behalf of
the entire people to issue a deportation order for Daw Suu Kyi...,'' it
said. 



State newspapers usually closely reflect government thinking. Last month an
article suggested Suu Kyi's deportation, but Monday's article was the
strongest direct call for it. 



On Monday a government spokesman confirmed that authorities had detained an
unspecified number of NLD members and said they would take ``appropriate
action'' against Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders if they stuck to their vow
to convene a parliament. 



The NLD made the vow as the military has refused to recognise the results
of the country's last general election eight years ago, which the party won
by a landslide. 



The NLD said those detained included 50 members who won parliamentary
seats. 



The newspaper commentary accused Suu Kyi of creating unrest since 1988. 



The charismatic Suu Kyi emerged as the main opposition leader that year at
the height of nationwide uprising for democracy which the military crushed
killing thousands of people, according to most independent estimates. 



The military held her under house arrest for six years from 1989. In 1991
she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her courage in standing up to
military rule. 



The newspaper commentary accused Suu Kyi of ``brazenly violating the
independent sovereign power of Myanmar'' by discussing its internal affairs
with the U.S. and British embassies. 



It said Suu Kyi was not a Myanmar citizen as she was married to an
Englishman and Myanmar law did not allow dual nationality. 



In addition, she had failed to register the births of her sons with the
Myanmar Embassy or to pay Myanmar taxes on income earned abroad, although
she had declared income while in India to the British Embassy, it said. 



``In view of this, it is evident that Daw Suu Kyi is a British citizen,''
it said. 



``The prevailing laws in Britain allow its citizens to have dual
nationality. Section 16 of the Myanmar Citizen Law (1982) does not allow
Myanmar citizens to have dual nationality. 



``It is clearly prescribed in Section 16 that the citizenship of a citizen
ceases when he leaves the country for good or when he is naturalised or
registered in another country or when he gets a passport or similar
document from another country,'' it said. 



The article also blamed rises in prices of consumer goods on Suu Kyi's
confrontational policies. 



``People are becoming frightened and panic that the situation will become
like in 1988 as the foreign broadcasting stations are broadcasting their
instigations,'' it said. 



Amid the standoff between the government and opposition in recent weeks,
university students, who led the 1988 uprising, have staged their biggest
protests in years at their campus grounds.