Myanmar junta says Aung San Suu Kyi (r)

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Myanmar junta says Aung San Suu Kyi a bad mother and bad citizen

      Mon 14 Sep 98 - 06:27 GMT

      YANGON, Sept 14 (AFP) - Myanmar's junta unleashed a volley of
criticism at opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
      Monday, saying she was a bad mother and not even a Myanmar
citizen.

      The Nobel peace laureate should be deported, said a commentary in
the official Mirror daily, a Burmese-language
      organ of the junta.

      "This is not only my personal wish, but the ardent desire of all
parents, as well as the people," said the commentary, by
      a writer identified only as "a mother."

      Myanmar women traditionally devoted their attention to looking
after their families and should continue to do so, it
      added.

      "In keeping with this tradition, Myanmar women have little time to
dabble in politics," it said.

      "We were totally discouraged when she started to make trouble,
disrupting school examinations, and we began to
      wonder why the authorities were being so magnaminous to such a
trouble-maker," the commentary added, saying the
      junta should take action against the National League for Democracy
(NLD) leader "once and for all."

      "Daw (honorific) Aung San Suu Kyi, alias Mrs. Michael Villiancourt
Aris, who is a foreigner with pretensions of being
      a citizen, is blatantly causing trouble for the people and if the
government continues to condone her actions it will be
      like looking on with arms folded at the suffering of the people,"
it said.

      The junta frequently cites Aung San Suu Kyi's marriage to Briton
Michael Aris as evidence that she is not committed
      to Myanmar. Aris and their two children live in Britain.

      The British embassy here Monday denied Aung San Suu Kyi was a
British national.

      "We wish to make it categorically clear she is not, and never has
been, a British citizen," it said in a statement.

      However, the charge was repeated Monday in another junta organ,
the English-language New Light of Myanmar daily.
      Dual nationality is illegal in Myanmar.

      "Mrs Michael Aris, a Myanmar citizen, became a British subject out
of her own wish," it said in another signed
      commentary.

      "It is no wonder that with her reliance on the West, she is now
engaged in subversive acts to undermine the
      sovereignty of Myanmar and hand the country' independence over to
the West bloc."

      Yangon was quiet Monday but foreign diplomats said riot police
continued to seal off the Hlaing university campus,
      site of recent student unrest, and were deployed around the NLD
headquarters.

      The police, carrying shields and batons, stayed in the shadows of
other buildings near the Yangon NLD complex, they
      added. They were also equipped with mobile barriers which could be
used to quickly seal off the downtown road.

      At least 200 riot police were stationed around the Hlaing campus,
where students have been staging anti-government
      demonstrations over the past two weeks, but no incidents were
reported.

      The junta has effectively thwarted plans by the opposition to
convene a parliament this month by detaining most of its
      members, according to foreign diplomats.

      The NLD claims 700 members and supporters have been detained over
the last week, but some foreign envoys said
      fewer than 200 detentions had been confirmed.

      The opposition won 1990 polls by a landslide, with the NLD alone
taking 382 of the 485 seats. But the junta, which
      won only 10 seats, has refused to relinquish power, saying it is
gradually moving towards democracy.

      The number of NLD and other opposition members of parliament has
since fallen to an unknown level due to deaths
      and resignations.

      The NLD has vowed to convene the parliament elected in 1990 but
the junta has said the move would be illegal.


)AFP 1998