[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Reuter: Who Will Honour Burma's Dea



Subject: Reuter: Who Will Honour Burma's Dead Leaders?

Who Will Honour Burma's Dead Leaders?

   By Apichart Weerawong
     RANGOON, July 17 (Reuter) - Burma's military regime have invited
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to Friday's Martyrs Day ceremony, and her
response could indicate the future course of her standoff with the
government, diplomats said on Wednesday.
     The solemn commemoration of the 1947 assassination of Suu Kyi's
father, Burma's pre-independence leader General Aung San, and eight others
is not expected to spark a major showdown between Suu Kyi and the
government.
     But with the authorities and the people watching Suu Kyi's every move,
diplomats say her action on Friday -- whether she attends the
government-run commemoration or marks the anniversary in her own way --
will be signficant.
     "People are watching and waiting to see what she does," one
Rangoon-based diplomat told Reuters.
     Suu Kyi was released from six years' house arrest in July last year
and has since revitalised the democracy movement. But she has also angered
the government which has warned her not to push her campaign for democracy
too far.
     "Since her release, she's been there as a symbol for the people,
carrying their cause and fighting for them. They will be watching
everything she does," the diplomat said.
     An official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) said on
Wednesday Suu Kyi had received an invitation to the official,
government-run Martyrs Day ceremony but declined to say what she planned
for the day.
     Suu Kyi's father, six of his pre-independence cabinet colleagues and
two others died in a hail of bullets on July 19, 1947, as gunmen burst in
on them as they held a meeting six months before independence from Britian.
     One of Aung San's political rivals and several members of his gang
were later tried and executed but a host of unanswered questions
surrounding the assassination plot continue to intrigue many Burmese.
     Suu Kyi, who last year participated in the official ceremony just days
after her release, hinted last week that she might shun the event this
year.
     "In my opinion, we honour our dead leaders, not by holding formal
ceremonies, but by doing what they would have wished us to do," she told
supporters outside her house.
     Her refusal to attend could be seen as an affront to the military and
could heighten the sense of a looming face-off between her and the
generals, diplomats said.
     Since her release Suu Kyi has made repeated calls for dialogue on
political reform with the ruling military body, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC).
     The SLORC has ignored her appeal for talks and instead launched a
crackdown on the NLD, detaining more than 250 party members in an
unsuccessful attempt to prevent the party from holding a congress at Suu
Kyi's Rangoon home in May.
     The government then intensified its attack on her in speeches and in
the official media and introduced a sweeping new law allowing for jail
terms of up to 20 years for anyone deemed disrupting the SLORC's political
plans.
     But diplomats said irrespective of what happens on Martyrs Day, Suu
Kyi faced a tough task wresting political concessions.
     "They've got all the power, all the guns, all the resources," another
diplomat said. "Aung San Suu Kyi gets a lot of play in the Western media,
she's really tough, but they've got all the political power."
  REUTER
KT
ISBDA