THE NATION: Thai police arrest Aung

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Thai police arrest Aung San Suu Kyi aid, Myanmar
student activists

posted at 12:45 hrs (Bangkok time) 

BANGKOK, May 21 -- Thai police have arrested an exiled Myanmar MP and close aid of
opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a raid on a house in a Bangkok suburb,
police said Thursday. 

Police said they arrested Thein Oo, 43, who was elected to parliament under Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy banner in 1990 elections. 

The election results were cancelled by Myanmar's military. 

''We asked for a court warant to search the house and did so on Wednesday afternoon after
learning that it housed illegal Myanmar immigrants,'' Colonel Sarit Anekwiang of the Bangkok
Metropolitan Police told AFP. 

Police said they also arrested 13 others at the house who said they were Myanmar students and
pro-democracy activists, as part of a crackdown on foreign illegal labour. 

Police officers said they siezed three computers and documents related to the Myanmar opposition
movement of Aung San Suu Kyi. 

''We found no illegal things, but all of them were without proper documents to show that they had
entered Thailand legally,'' Sarit said. 

He said all 14 would be charged with illegal entry, and had been handed to immigration officials. 

As an MP under the NLD, Thein Oo was included in the National Coalition Government for the
Union of Burma (NCGUB) as justice minister. The NCGUB now operates as a government in exile
from Thailand. 

Another NCGUB member of parliament, exiled Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Teddy Buri,
told AFP the arrests were a sad reflection on the level of Thailand's support for democracy in the
region. 

''He was arrested yesterday. I think it is something very sad,'' Teddy Buri said. ''There is democracy
here, but in Burma they don't have it, and a lot of other Asian countries don't have it.'' 

''They (Thein Oo and the students) are trying to bring about democracy, but are unable to do it on
their own soil, so have had to do it in a neighbouring country which has been to a certain extent
hospitable.'' 

However, he said it was unclear whether the arrests marked a crack-down on Myanmar activists
working out of Thailand and what the fate of the arrested men and women would be. 

''I'm not sure if it has to do with policy, but it is a campaign against illegal immigrants. But hopefully it
does not mark a crack-down on Burmese dissidents by the Thai government,'' he said. 

Police officers told AFP they had been unaware of who Thein Oo was or his political activities
before the raid. (AFP)