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Tuesday, January 4 2:50 PM SGT
Myanmar junta brands Suu Kyi a "terrorist" on Independence DayYANGON, Jan 4 (AFP) -Myanmar's ruling military Tuesday lashed out at the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi at a ceremony marking the 52nd anniversary of independence, branding them "terrorists" and calling on the people to destroy them. More than 15,000 members of government-sponsored associations gathered in Yangon's People's Park to listen to the Independence Day message from junta chairman General Than Shwe. "It is imperative to oppose and remove with the people's might the destructive danger of the terrorist and destructive group heading for utter devastation," said the message read by Yangon's military commander and run in all state media. In the speech, read out following a flag-hoisting ceremony, Than Shwe also called for people "to oppose the neocolonialists from abroad" who were assisting "internal national traitors." Although Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) were not named, the language used was that typically reserved for them by the junta which has repeatedly accused them of having foreign backing. It also echoed language used by the Nobel peace prize winner and daughter of independence hero General Aung San in a message delivered after her release from house arrest by the junta in 1995, observers said. The NLD, which won 1990 elections but were never allowed to take power, were scheduled to release a message at a meeting attended by Aung San Suu Kyi later Tuesday. The exiled "government" of Myanmar said earlier in a statement issued in neighbouring Thailand that colonial rule by Britain had been preferable to that of the military. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) said the country had been in a state of "civil war" since independence on January 4, 1948, and called for talks with the military. "The deprivation of freedom under the State Peace and Development Council is much worse than the deprivation of liberty under the rule of the foreign power," the statement said using the junta's official name. The NCGUB lamented the military's takeover of power in 1962 saying it did nothing to restore peace and stability and urged people to rise up against the junta. "On the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of independence, we would like to earnestly urge the entire nation to unitedly join hands with us in the struggle for liberation from the military serfdom and for the second independence." In 1962 General Ne Win led a military coup against an elected government and formed his own secretive and idiosyncratic regime which sealed Myanmar off from the rest of the world. He was toppled when outrage over both a currency shake-up which demonetized small bills and the impoverishment of the country through 26 years of isolation led to nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. A new junta subsequently brutally suppressed the uprising and organised national elections in 1990, which were won overwhelmingly by the NLD. The junta refused to hand over power and is blamed for widespread human rights violations. Many of the opposition members elected were imprisoned or fled abroad. |