SCMP-Junta 'must allow open funeral

[tinkyi@xxxxxxx]

Subject: SCMP-Junta 'must allow open funeral rites' for dissident's husband 

South China Morning Post
Wednesday  March 31  1999
The Mekong Region

Junta 'must allow open funeral rites' for dissident's husband

BURMA by GREG TORODE
Burma's military rulers must allow unfettered public access to funeral rites
for the husband of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to prove the sincerity
of their sympathy, opposition activists said yesterday.

A major Buddhist ceremony is being planned in Rangoon for Friday to mark a
week since the death of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's British husband Michael Aris
but Bangkok-based activists fear only handpicked supporters and diplomats
will be allowed to attend.

"If the regime really wants to show its sincerity after handling this
tragedy so appallingly, they could start by allowing free expressions of
sympathy to Aung San Suu Kyi and her family," one diplomat said.

The Tibetan scholar died of prostate cancer, having failed to secure a visa
from the authorities to allow a final visit to his wife.

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi received condolences yesterday from General Khin Nyunt,
the junta's Secretary One, in which he pledged full assistance in staging
the rites. Officials in her National League for Democracy said the note was
"seemingly sincere".