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SCMP-Junta has democrats on the rop



Subject: SCMP-Junta has democrats on the ropes

Saturday  January 9  1999
Burma -Junta has democrats on the ropes

WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok
The generals in Rangoon have effectively smashed opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi's political party, diplomats in the Burmese capital said yesterday.

Yet they doubt the junta has the courage to ban the party outright or deport
popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Civil servants have been going door-to-door across the land demanding to
know if National League for Democracy (NLD) members support "The Lady" or
remained members of the party.

Anyone who does not disown the opposition is told bluntly that their family
will see job and education opportunities melt away.

"They've been very thorough. They've really tried to lay waste to the party
structure," one diplomat said.

The regime said a few days ago that 257 party members in the Shan state and
in Ayewaddy division had "voluntarily" resigned. Hundreds more are believed
to have been pressured into signing similar papers purporting to burn their
political links.

The operation appears designed to humiliate party members with their own
weakness and portray Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and senior colleagues as isolated
heretics.

The government-run media warned yesterday that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi might be
put on trial for what it said were anti-national activities.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said she had broken the law by divulging
state secrets to foreign nations and kept in contact with outlawed
expatriate and rebel groups.

"She not only divulges secrets of the state to foreign nations but also
called for destruction of the state openly," an article said.

"She is breaking the existing laws, keeping in contact with outlawed
expatriate groups that rebelled with arms and the Karen National Union
group, declared as an unlawful association."

A series of mass rallies - or "expressions of the people's desires" - were
held around the country last year to join the state media in its vicious
attacks against dangerous "axe-handles" - Burmese who work with foreigners
to attack their own people.

Officials from the Union Solidarity and Development Association have also
been handing out questionnaires demanding to know if people would or would
not like to join the military organisation, according to opposition sources.

The pogrom is a stinging reply to the NLD's provocative attempt to convene
parliament late last year along the lines of a 1990 election when it won an
overwhelming majority.

Some observers suspect the secretive regime may be particularly loath to
permit any strong challenge now because its hand-picked National Convention
may be allowed to produce a constitution this year, paving with way for some
kind of "soviet" election.

But this does not necessarily mean that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who suffered
six years of house arrest until 1996, will be detained again or her party
banned outright.