Fear of junta mutes sympathy for wi

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Subject: Fear of junta mutes sympathy for windowed Suu Kyi

News from India Newspaper
The Hindustan Times
 Bangkok (Thailand), March 28

Fear of Junta mutes sympathy for windowed Suu Kyi

Sympathy for Opposition leader of her husband in Britain was muted among
some in  Myanmar today due to fear of the Southeast Asian nation's
military Government.
 "I feel sorry for Daw (aunt) Suu and I think she is a strong and brave
woman," said Myint Maung, a retired businessman. "I want to convey my
condolences personally, but I am afraid my name will be marked down by
the police."
 The streets of Myanmar's Capital, Yangon, were calm and quiet with many
people apparently unaware that Ms Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris, has
died.
 State-run media made no mention of Aris's death. Myint Maung, like
others who knew of it, learned of the news form BBC radio or other
foreign radio broadcasts.
 Aris, a professor of Tibetan studies at Oxford, succumbed to prostate
cancer at London's Churchill hospital yesterday, his 53rd birthday.
 The couple has two sons, Alexander and Kim, both in their 20s and
living in Britain.
 Aris had petitioned Myanmar's military Government repeatedly for a visa
after he learned he was dying in a desperate attempt to see his wife one
last time.
 Myanmar authorities refused to allow him to enter the country, and
instead urged Ms Suu Kyi to visit him in Britain. She refused, saying
she did not believe the military would allow her, its chief opponent, to
return to Myanmar.
 In the official Press, the military Government has threatened to deport
Ms Suu Kyi several times and regularly runs cartoons and editorials
denouncing her for marrying a foreigner.
 Ms Suu Kyi spent six years under house arrest form 1989-95. The Nobel
Peace Prize winner's home is ringed by police checkpoints. Only senior
members of her party and diplomats are allowed by the military
Government to visit her.
 Anyone else seeking access must sign a list which is forwarded to the
authorities.
 In recent months, the military has launched a campaign of arrests and
intimidation against members of Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League
for Democracy, NLD leaders have said.
 More than 10,000 NLD members have voluntarily resigned, according to
the military Government, but Ms Suu Kyi and NLD leader have said the
resignations have been coerced by authorities.
 Should Ms Suu Kyi leave the country, many in Myanmar believe the NLD
and the Opposition would collapse entirely.
 The military Government issued a statement today saying it is "deeply
saddened to hear of Michael Aris's demise and sends its sincerest
condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family in this time of grief."
 At Ms Suu Kyi's home and at the NLD headquarters in Yangon, condolence
books were opened today for signatures.
 A sympathetic Yangon resident, who sopke only on condition of
anonymity, expressed frustration at not being able to communicate his
regrets to the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner. " I want to send a bouquet
to Daw Suu through a florist, but I doubt the florist has the courage to
send it for me," he said.
 Others said, however, that they hadn't heard about Aris's death and
were more worried about surviving during the country's economic
difficulties than politics.
 "My concern is the spiralling consumer prices," said one housewife who
insisted she not be identified.
 Myanmar's currency, the Kyat, has plummeted in value in recent years,
and inflation is soaring as Myanmar, already a poor country, suffers
through economic difficulties because of a regional economic crisis.
(AP)