Wired News: Burma - Politics (AP) (r)

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   By ROBERT HORN
 Associated Press Writer
   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Burma's generals have been very quiet about Aung San Suu
Kyi, but everyone in Rangoon knows she is now free and many yearn to hear more about
what she intends to do to change the country.
   The pro-democracy leader was freed July 10 after six years of house arrest, but the
state-controlled media did not even mention her name until Wednesday evening's television
newscast. Today her picture appeared in newspapers.
   "They are afraid of her," said Saw Muang, 28, a graduate student in law. "They are afraid if
they say something, many people will come to see her."
   Several hundred people are still gathering outside Mrs. Suu Kyi's lakeside house every
day. She tells them democracy remains her goal, but that the people must be cautious and
avoid danger.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi, 50, is immensely popular because of her courage while leading the huge 1988
pro-democracy rallies, which soldiers crushed by killing hundreds. She also is respected as
the daughter of Aung San, a Burmese independence leader who was assassinated in 1947.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a general election in 1990 but the
military refused to let it take power.
   Like most Burmese, Kyaw Thet Aung, an artist in his 50s, learned of Mrs. Suu Kyi's release
from Voice of America and British Broadcasting Corp. radio broadcasts.
   "I want to know what she will do," he said. "Will she stay here or go back to another country?
Why can't the government make things clear to us? I want them to be clear."
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's appearance in the official media may mean the government is willing to deal
with her politically at some level. She has been urging the government to join her in national
reconciliation talks, but no reply has been reported.
   A small photograph of Mrs. Suu Kyi on the front page of the newspaper The New Light of
Myanmar (Burma) showed her laying orchids at her father's tomb during Wednesday's
Martyrs Day ceremony.
   It was placed below a photograph, spanning the width of the page, showing military and
government officials bowing and saluting during the same ceremony.
   Mrs. Suu Kyi's presence was noted in a single sentence in the middle of the 18-paragraph
story. It also mentioned the names of two people who placed a wreath on behalf of Aung San
Oo, Mrs. Suu Kyi's brother, who lives in the United States and did not attend the service.
   It was the same event covered by the earlier state television broadcast.