Myanmar Student Group Raps Exiles

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar student group raps exiles on asylum

TOKYO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - A Myanmar dissident group on Tuesday sharply
criticised a decision by two compatriots to give up asylum in Japan, saying
Myanmar's military government may have pressured the dissidents' families to
force their return. 

Win Naing and Mya Mya Win, leaders of the Burmese Association in Japan, told a
news conference in Tokyo on Monday of their decision to surrender their
refugee status and return home. 

Aung Naing Oo, Bangkok-based foreign affairs secretary of the All Burma
Students Democratic Front, said their contention that there had been
``positive and constructive change'' military rule in Myanmar (Burma) was
absurd. 

``It's ridiculous to say there have been positive changes. The whole world
knows there has been an increase in repression and an increase in arrests of
opposition members,'' he said. 

``It's a very bad decision that will have a negative effect for people seeking
asylum in Japan in the future and is very bad for the democracy movement.'' 

He said Win Naing and Mya Mya Win had had a bad relationship with the Myanmar
community in Japan in recent years because of their attitude to the political
situation at home. 

Aung Naign Oo said it was possible the Myanmar military had pressured their
families to get the two to say positive things about the government. He said
there was no guarantee that activists returning to Burma would not face
problems. 

``It depends who you are, but there's no guarantee at all. Nothing is safe,
nothing is certain,'' he said. 

Thousands of opponents of the authoritarian rule in Myanmar fled overseas
after the military crushed a nationwide pro-democracy movement in 1988,
killing thousands of people. 

Aung Naing Oo also said that on August 13, two members of Myanmar's main
opposition National League for Democracy were sentenced to seven years in jail
for allegedly distributing pro-NLD letters. 

He said the two were Kyi Toe and Aung Than Nyunt, from Chauk township in
central Burma. Nine other opposition members were arrested at the same time
but the ABSDF did not know whether they had also been sentenced. 

A spokeswoman for Amnesty International in Japan said on Monday the human
rights group was very concerned about the situation in Myanmar and it might be
dangerous for former refugees to return. 

International attention has focused on Myanmar this past month as NLD leader
Aung San Suu Kyi has tested restrictions imposed on her travel around the
country. 

The military has blocked her from visiting party members in the provinces, and
since August 12 she has been sitting in a car on a road southwest of Yangon,
prevented from proceeding and unwilling to return to the capital. 

Su Kyi has demanded the military recognise the results of the 1990 general
election her party won by a landslide and convene parliament by this Friday. 

02:28 08-18-98