BURMESE STUDENTS MARK UPRISING

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

                         By Vikas Bajaj 
                         Associated Press Writer 
                         Friday, August 8, 1997; 3:53 a.m. EDT 

                         BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Exiled Burmese students
                         marked the ninth anniversary today of a nationwide
democracy
                         uprising by blocking the entrance to the Burmese
Embassy in
                         Bangkok and chanting denunciations of the country's
military
                         regime. 

                         A score of Burmese students, joined by some of
their Thai
                         counterparts and human rights activists, waved the
red and
                         yellow flags of the country's democracy movement
and chanted
                         slogans. 

                         The students have protested in front of the walled
embassy
                         compound in downtown Bangkok every Aug. 8 since 1988,
                         marking the day when millions of Burmese took to
the streets
                         to demand an end to 26 years of repressive military
rule and
                         economic ruin. 

                         The army responded by gunning down the demonstrators,
                         killing more than 3,000. 

                         ``We want to keep doing our activities to protest
the illegal
                         regime, so one day there will be changes in our
country,'' said
                         Tun Thien, an exiled Burmese student. 

                         Thousands of students and demonstrators fled to the
Thai
                         border once the killing began, and many have moved
on to
                         exile in third countries. They organize protests in
their adopted
                         lands, lobby for economic sanctions against the
military
                         government and coordinate with other exiles through the
                         internet. 

                         Thien, who now lives in the California and was visiting
                         Bangkok, said he lost many friends during the
protest and has
                         had no contact with his family since he left Burma. 

                         ``Sometimes it's very hard,'' he said about keeping
up the
                         protest. ``But the truth motivates us. This
increases our
                         strength.'' 

                         A grinding, hopeless poverty borne of the
military's socialist
                         isolationist policies and mismanagement of the
economy were
                         as much a motive for the 1988 uprising as a desire for
                         democracy. 

                         A year before the uprising, on a superstitious whim
of Gen. Ne
                         Win, who ruled the country at the time, the government
                         demonetized several denominations of local
currency, wiping
                         out the savings of millions of people and stoking
anger against
                         the government. 

                         The current military regime, which took power six
weeks after
                         the demonstrations, has tried to open Burma to foreign
                         investment and to implement a market economy. 

                         At first, the new policies seemed to be improving
the country's
                         fortunes. But having crushed intellectual
dissenters, the regime
                         now lacks the technocrats necessary to guide such a
                         monumental change. 

                         The military's continued mismanagement has resulted in
                         rampant inflation, a currency that is plummeting in
value far
                         faster and deeper than any other in Southeast Asia,
a severe
                         drop in foreign reserves and shortages of
essentials such as
                         gasoline. 

                         If the economy continues to slide toward disaster,
simmering
                         discontent could lead to more open support for
democracy
                         activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been kept under
de facto
                         house arrest 

                         since October. 

                         Although there were protests today in Tokyo and
other cities
                         around the world, there were no commemorations or
                         demonstrations inside Burma. 

                         Few Burmese are willing to risk a violent response
by the
                         army. Students who took part in peaceful protests last
                         December demanding the right to form a student's
union were
                         given long prison sentences by the regime.