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NCUB statement on recent NLD resign



Subject: NCUB statement on recent NLD resignations in Be Lin Township

<center>NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE UNION OF BURMA

</center>

<center>December 1, 1998


</center><bold>Recent NLD resignations in Be Lin Township

</bold>We have received the following information from inside source:


"On 25 November, 1998, a programme on Myanmar TV called "Happiness and
Image of the People" aired an interview with the NLD organisers of Be Lin
Township. In the programme, the journalist asked them why they were
resigning from the NLD and whether they were being forced to do so. He
also asked whether they had been invited for talks in the government
guest house, and how the government treated them. But the way the
journalist asked his questions was highly leading, and the NLD members
all answered that they had resigned on their own will. They said that the
government did not arrest them, bur that they had only been asked to come
for a temporary invitation. Food had been very good, and the treatment
had been the best. The NLD members also confirmed that there had been no
guards watching over them. All of them gave the same answers, and they
spoke in unison. But the public could see their true feelings on their
faces. They were not enthusiastic and din not seem happy about what they
were talking about. It was also clear that they were afraid. U Thein Kyi,
the chairman of the township organising committee spoke with his head
bowed during the entire interview. The programme was pure propaganda for
the SPDC.


People understand that all the members of the NLD have resigned by force.
After the programme, one member of the NLD organising committee in Be Lin
Township, who did not want to be named, said that everything in the
programme had been a lie.


According to this person, all the people who had been interviewed, the
chairman, U Thein Kyi, the vice-chairman, U Kyi Maung, the secretary, U
Show Htun, the cashier, U Tin So, Daw Hla Hla Myint from women's Affairs,
and joint-secretaries U Hla Win and U Shwe Win as well as U Kan Htoo and
Aung Myo Win were arrested by Aung Ngwe Kyaing, an officer from M15 in Be
Lin. He led the police force and members of the local PDC from different
quarters. They were arrest on 6 September at 10:30 p.m. They were sent in
two groups to the LIB # 3 and IB # 8 via the police station. They were
Charged with breaching the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, art. 5 (j), and
were sent to jail on 25 September.


On 19 july 1997, Ko Aung Myo Min and U Shwe Win organised the official
ceremony for  Martyrs day. They also put up the NLD signboard that had
previously been removed by the SPDC. They were arrested by the SPDC
because of these acts. At the time, the SPDC forced Ko Aung Myo Win and U
Shwe Win to resign from the NLD. They agreed and signed, but they were
not released. They were sent to jail for 6 months. When they were
arrested again by the MI on September 6, Ko Aung Myo Win and U Shwe Win
complained to the MI that they had already signed their resignation
letter and that they were therefore not related to the NLD. However, the
MI (5) replied that the signature of the resignation letter at the police
station had not been legal.


All the NLD organisers, 9 people, were released on 28 October because
they agreed to sign that they would resign from the NLD. They were forced
by the MI to do so. On 9 November, MI brought these released 9 NLD
members and 5 other NLD organisers to the township PDC office, and
presented for them a ready made statement that they were resigning from
the NLD. They were forced to sign it. They read the statement aloud and
the MI recorded it. The MI also took photos and video of the event. The
same night, MI 5 and other officers served dinner to the NLD members.
Photos were then of them while they were eating.


On 12 November, they recorded the interview for the programme on Myanmar
TV at Aung Zeya Hall, No.8 Quarter in Be Lin. Before the interview, the
MI prepared the answers for the NLD organisers and taught them how to
speak. Myanmar TV recorded the interview with U Thein Kyi, U Kyin Maung,
U Shwe Htun, Ko Thein So, Ko Aung Myo Win, U Pyu, U Pho Kyi, U Hla Htun,
U Thaung Nyunt. Myawaddy TV interviewed Ko Hla Win, Ko Shwe Win, Ko Kan
Htu, U Mya Maung and Daw Hla Hla Myint.


According to the NLD member who did not want to be named, the NLD cannot
be destroyed by 14 people signing that they are resigning. He also added
that they were forced to sign, and that he cannot accept the resignations
because it is against the wishes of the people, who have elected them. He
also stated that such acts as confiscation rubber stamps and removing
signboards cannot eliminate the NLD. Finally, he declared that "we will
work for the NLD even without rubber stamps or signboards, and we will
still assume that we are party members and follow the party's policies
and stand".


According to the latest information, these 14 people are now under
surveillance by the MI, and they are not allowed to travel.


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