The Nation (6/8/1999)

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<bold>Monks, students to lead Burma protests


</bold>

EXILED pro-democracy activists yesterday called for a mass uprising
against the Burmese junta and revealed detailed plans to incite unrest on
Sept 9,dayof numerical significance.=20

Dissidents and exiled politicians 'laid expectations were high that civil
unrest would break out around Burma on that date, with monks and students
planning acts of disobedience this week to encourage a revolution'.
Tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of the Aug 8, 1988, uprising in which
hundreds of pro-democracy demonetrators were gunned down and a junta took
over the government of former military dictator Ne Win.=20

Opposition groups said the Burmese people felt they had an "appointment'
with 9-9-99 - nine is a powerful figure in Burmese numerology - to repeat
the events of 1988 and end the military's 37-year domination of politics.=20

"No one can predict the future, but there is an atmosphere of possibility
all over Burma that this period will be the beginning of a wave of force
that will topple the regime,' All Burma Students Federation Union
spokesman Min Zin said.=20

"The expectations of the people in the street in Burma are high every-
where,' he added.=20

Exiled student activists in Bangkok said underground pro-democracy
networks inside Burma were planning to instigate a general strike
tomorrow to encourage unrest on $opt 9.=20

All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) spokesman Aung Thu Nyeim said
activists were also asking people to wear yellow tomor- row and light
candles in support of democracy.=20

"We are calling for a strike. We are calling for a people's campaign on
that day to honour those who sacrificed themselves in 1988," he said.=20

'The revolution started then has not finished and the Burmese people will
accomplish their goal this time,' he told reporters at a press briefing.=20

'The atmosphere in Burma is very conducive to another general uprising,'
he added.=20

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma spokesman Tedd Buri
said the country was in worse shape now than in 1988=20

He said drug addiction was "rampant",the economy in a shambles, hospitals
had run out of medicine and 300,000 youths were waiting to attend
universities which had been closed since 1996


Meanwhile, the opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,
which won the 1990 elections only to be denied power by the generals, was
stronger than ever, he said.=20

"'Ihe junta is feeling very jumpy and has begun taking precautions
[against social unrest in the next two months]," he said.=20

The opposition spokesmen Bald civilian militias were being equipped and
trained to counter demonstrators, while provincial officials were being
warned to look out for any signs of pro-democracy activity.=20

Open dissent is met with lengthy prison terms in Burma and pictures of
Aung San Suu Kyi are banned. Hundreds of political prisoners are believed
to be held in jails, although the regime denies this.=20

The junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council, brands Aung
San Suu Kyi a traitor working for foreign governments and blames
"terrorists" for most efforts to bring about democratic change.=20

It regularly calls the ABSDF an "armed terrorist group".=20

'These quarters are obviously trying to highlight and attract attention
by a method of fabrication, exaggeration and speculation," a junta
spokesman said in a statement yesterday.=20

"We do not anticipate any unusual happenings on the so-called 9-9- 99,"
he added, calling the opposition groups 'numerically obsessed'.=20

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<bold>Aust defends human rights visit to Rangoon</bold>=20


SYDNEY - Australia's human rights commissioner yesterday defended his
recent visit to Burma, saying the military regime should be engaged in a
human rights dialogue after expressing interest in a national rights
watch- dog. On his return from a three-day visit to Burma, Chris Sidoti
acknowledged concerns that his visit could lend credibility to the
military regime, but added he was surprised by the extent of the
government's interest in establishing a human rights body. "If the
government of Myanmar [Burma] has expressed a wish, to do something about
protecting human rights, we should be willing to enter into dialogue to
see whether that is possible," Sidoti said. The idea of a rights=20
commission was first proposed by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer a year ago. Downer raised the issue again with Burma's Foreign
Minister Win Aung in Singapore last week, prompting Sidotis visit.
'Whether the [opposition] National League for Democracy likes it or not,
the simple fact is that the NLD is not presently in a position to do very
much at all about protecting the human rights' of the people of Burma,"
Sidoti said. "The government on the other hand, however illegitimate the
process by which it assumed power may be, is,' he said. International
human rights groups say the Burmese military government has been guilty
of widespread human=20

rights abuses, including mass arrests and torture, against political
opponents since seizing power in 1988 by crushing a pro-democracy
uprising. Sidoti said he had been surprised by the expressions of support
at several meetings with senior Burmese government officials over setting
up a national human rights body. The proposed rights body is similar to

those in the seven-member Asian Pacific Forum, of National Human Rights
Institutions. Such a body was set up during former Indonesian president
Suharto's regime in the early 1990s. "The Minister for Home Affairs Tin
Hlaing in particular assured me that his government was interested in
pursuing this proposal," Sidoti said. "I was surprised by the amount of
interest he showed . . . 1 don't know what lies behind it." The Burmese
government will send an observer to a meeting of the Asia- Pacific Forum
next month to meet members of other human rights commissions in the
region, Sidoti said. . Burma was also interested in exploring possible
exchange and cooperation in human rights training for government
officials and the police, he said. Sidoti did not request a meeting with
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
who is under house arrest, but met other opposition figures. He said vice
chairman of the NLD, Tin Oo expressed misgivings about his mission and
was sceptical the Burmese regime would allow an independent human rights
commission.=20