Daw Suu will go ahead, dear all put

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Subject: Daw Suu will go ahead, dear all put your chin up! 

Burma's Suu Kyi says to go ahead with draft charter
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    RANGOON, July 9 (Reuter) - Burma's democracy leader Aung San
    ------------------------
Suu Kyi said on Tuesday she planned to go ahead with drafting a
new constitution despite a sweeping new law introduced by the
government last month forbidding such a move.
    Suu Kyi told Reuters in an interview that her National
League for Democracy (NLD) had instructed her and other party
leaders in May to draft an alternative charter to one being
drawn up by a military-appointed convention.
    "Yes, the party congress gave us the responsibility of
drawing up of a draft constitution and we will go ahead with
that," she said on the eve of the first anniversary of her
release from six years' house arrest.
    The government-appointed convention has been meeting since
January 1993 to draw up the guidelines of a pro-military
constitution.
    "The people are not interested in the present national
convention or the constitution they are drawing up," she said.
    Shortly after the NLD held its congress in May, the
government announced a new law allowing for jail terms of up to
20 years for anyone who was seen to be interfering in its
constitutional convention or attempting to write a rival
charter.
 REUTER



Burma human rights unimproved - Amnesty
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    BANGKOK, July 9 (Reuter) - The release of Burma's democracy
    ------------------------
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest a year ago had raised
hopes human rights might be improving but the pace of political
arrests had increased, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
    The London-based human rights group said in a report that
some 1,000 political prisoners remained in Burmese jails and
political turmoil had increased dramatically since Suu Kyi's
party held a congress at her Rangoon home in May.
    "Nothing has changed in Myanmar's (Burma's) human rights
situation since the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on July 10,
1995," Amnesty International said.
    "Although her release raised hopes for an improvement in
(the government's) human rights practice and policy, the pace of
political arrests has in fact accelerated dramatically since
November 1995," the report said.
    Suu Kyi withdrew her National League for Democracy (NLD)
from a government-organised convention drawing up a pro-military
constitution in November, saying the proceedings were not
democractic.
    The ruling military body, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), arrested more than 250 NLD members
in May in an unsuccessful attempt to block a party congress.
    Amnesty International said it could confirm the subsequent
release of 169 of those arrested but it was concerned about the
continued detention of at least 26 others.
    The rights group said it was alarmed about the deterioration
in the rights situation, particularly the introduction of a
sweeping new law in June allowing for 20 years in prison for
anyone expressing their political views publicly.
 REUTER
1417 090796 GMT


Suu Kyi defiant on new draft Burma constitution
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    By Rajan Moses
    --------------
    RANGOON, July 9 (Reuter) - Opposition leader Aung San Suu
    -----------------------
Kyi said on Tuesday she would proceed with drafting a new
constitution, despite a sweeping new law introduced by the
government last month forbidding such a move.
    Suu Kyi told Reuters in an interview on the eve of the first
anniversary of her release from six years' detention, that her
National League for Democracy (NLD) party had directed the
leadership in May to draft an alternate charter to one being
drawn up by a military government-appointed national convention.
    "Yes, the party congress gave us the responsibility for
drawing up a draft constitution and we will go ahead with that,"
the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate said.
    The convention of representatives handpicked by the ruling
military body, the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC), has been meeting since early 1993 to draw up the
guidelines for a pro-military constitution. Suu Kyi pulled the
NLD out of the meeting in November in a move which clearly
angered the SLORC.
    "People are not interested in the present national
convention or the constitution they are drawing up," she said.
    Shortly after the NLD held its May congress the government
announced a new law allowing for jail terms of up to 20 years
for anyone seen to be interfering with its convention or
attempting to write a rival charter.
    Just before the NLD congress the SLORC launched a major
crackdown on the party, arresting more than 250 members, the
majority of them elected in its 1990 poll victory which the
SLORC ignored.
    Diplomats and analysts said the SLORC was particularly
sensitive to any talk of an alternative constitution while being
less strict about the public meetings Suu Kyi holds outside her
house every weekend which attract several thousand supporters.
    "My release should not be taken as a sign of progress toward
democratisation. The events of the last few months have borne
out the truth," said Suu Kyi, the daughter of the architect of
Burma's independence from Britain in 1948, Aung San.
    She was speaking from her sparsely furnished lakeside
Rangoon home. Most of the furniture was sold to support herself
while in detention.
    During the past year, Suu Kyi and the SLORC have been in a
stand-off. The NLD has asked for dialogue on political reform.
The SLORC has responded with attacks on Suu Kyi in the state-run
media.
    "We will continue consolidating ourselves and continue to
fight for our rights, not just as a political party but as a
movement that represents the will of the people of Burma," she
said.
    Suu Kyi said she was still pushing for dialogue with the
SLORC but communication with the military was difficult.
    "They are so afraid of dialogue. They think it's some kind
of a battle, some kind of a duel," she said.
    Suu Kyi declined to give detail of her plans to achieve
greater  democracy but repeated her call for economic sanctions
against Burma, saying that the benefits of foreign investment
went only to a privileged few in the country.
    Suu Kyi also criticised the seven-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) policy of non-interference in
Burmese affairs.
    "However much ASEAN says they prefer not to interfere in the
internal affairs of Burma, I am afraid the internal affairs of
Burma will interfere with the region," she said.
    In its current political form Burma was a threat to regional
stability, as illustrated by the thousands of refugees spilling
into neighbouring Thailand and Bangladesh, she said.
 REUTER
1445 090796 GMT