CRACKDOWN IN BURMA

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

                         Crackdown in Burma



                         Tuesday, May 27 1997; Page A14
                         The Washington Post 

                         BURMA'S military regime has launched a new, nationwide
                         crackdown against the democratic activists -- and
rightful rulers
                         -- of that southeast Asian nation. About 200 should-be
                         parliamentarians and their supporters are in jail.
The junta has
                         sentenced one democrat to 26 years in prison for
possession of a
                         copying machine. One of the world's worst
governments is
                         providing "another reason," as the State Department
spokesman
                         said, "why we don't think that Burma ought to be
treated as a
                         normal country."

                         Burma is a lush nation of 45 million people, rich
in natural
                         resources, which should be a leader in Asia. Decades of
                         repressive rule have turned it into a laggard
instead. In 1990 the
                         ruling junta permitted parliamentary elections that
were won --
                         overwhelmingly -- by a pro-democracy party led by
Aung San
                         Suu Kyi, even though she was under house arrest at
the time.
                         Having lost the election, the military rulers --
who go under the
                         appropriately unappetizing acronym of SLORC, for
State Law
                         and Order Restoration Council -- refused to cede
power. Aung
                         San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate and daughter of
Burma's
                         post-colonial independence leader, has been under
house arrest
                         or something close to it for most of the time since
then.

                         The proximate cause of the latest arrests was Aung
San Suu
                         Kyi's call for her National League for Democracy to
convene
                         today, the seventh anniversary of those elections.
The SLORC,
                         apparently determined to prevent even a one-day
peaceful
                         assembly, is rounding up those who won election to
a legislature
                         that never convened. The more basic reason for the
arrests is the
                         regime's refusal even to initiate a dialogue with
Aung San Suu
                         Kyi, which is her principal political demand.

                         The crackdown presents a dilemma to Burma's
neighbors in
                         Southeast Asia, relatively prosperous and
increasingly democratic
                         nations like the Philippines and Thailand, which
are debating
                         whether to admit Burma -- also known as Myanmar --
into their
                         association, ASEAN. Given Burma's political and
economic
                         instability, and its wretched global reputation,
ASEAN can do
                         itself no good with such a new member.

                         Britain's new government said last week that it
would work with
                         its European Union partners to take new measures
against the
                         SLORC. President Clinton last week imposed
congressionally
                         mandated economic sanctions. In meetings in Europe
next week,
                         and with the G-7 leading industrialized nations
next month, he
                         should pursue further cooperative ways to pressure
Burma to
                         respect its own people's wishes.