Malaysian Does Not Sympathy 5 Years

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Malaysian groups denounce government over Myanmar

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Malaysia's opposition leader and two human
rights groups on Friday denounced the government for failing to support three
Malaysian activists detained in Myanmar for distributing leaflets. 

The three Malaysians were among 18 foreign pro-democracy activists who were
picked up on August 9 after handing out palm-sized leaflets calling on the
people of Myanmar to remember the brutal supression of a pro-democracy
demonstration on August 8, 1988. 

Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted as saying on Thursday that
Malaysians who entered other countries to create trouble or break the law did
not deserve much sympathy. 

``I find it difficult to sympathise with Malaysians who go to other countries
and consciously create trouble or break the laws there,'' Abdullah was quoted
as saying. 

Myanmar legal authorities began a hearing in Yangon on Friday in the case of
the activists, a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Yangon said. 

The 18 were charged under a section of Myanmar's 1950 Emergency Act, but the
exact nature of the alleged offences was unclear, she told Reuters by
telephone from Yangon. 

Malaysian rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) said it was shocked and
disappointed by the foreign minister's statement. 

``SUARAM firmly refutes Abdullah Badawi's unsubstantiated claims that the
Malaysian trio had gone to Burma (Myanmar) to create trouble,'' the group said
in a statement. 

``Distribution of leaflets like this will not be seen as an offence in any
other countries in the world,'' the Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia said,
calling the arrests a reflection of ``authoritarianism and high-handedness.'' 

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party took issue with
Abdullah. 

``It would be most unfortunate if Badawi's statement is accepted as a signal
by the Burmese military junta as a licence to impose whatever harsh laws and
cruel punishments against the three Malaysians as well as the other 15 pro-
democracy foreign activists,'' he said. 

Lim and the two rights groups called on the Malaysian government to follow the
lead set by Thailand and the Philippines, and step up pressure on Myanmar to
release the activists. 

``We are of the opinion that the stance taken by the Malaysian government will
not encourage the Burmese government to rectify their authoritarian political
system,'' the Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia said. 

Lim said Malaysia had taken a clear-cut stand for human rights in South Africa
and Bosnia and also backed the Palestinians' cause, and should now press
Myanmar to start a political dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar opposition supporters say thousands of Myanmar citizens were killed by
troops in the bloody crackdown that followed the uprising on August 8, 1988.
The government says the death toll was a few dozen. 

08:11 08-14-98