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News Feature - Myanmar's Heart Hide



Feature-Myanmar's Heart Hides a Place for Suu Kyi

            Reuters
            08-SEP-98

            YANGON, Sept 8 (Reuters)- They think twice before even
mentioning
            her name, but Myanmar's opposition leader retains a special
secret
            place in the hearts of her people. 

            "In Myanmar, first is Buddha, second is Aung San Suu Kyi,"
said one
            Yangon resident. 

            In the 10 years since the crushing of a pro-democracy
uprising, the
            country's military rulers have done all they can to destroy
the influence
            of the charismatic daughter of national hero Aung San. 

            But judging by the guarded comments of Yangon residents,
they have
            failed. 

            UNSEEN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 

            Despite six years of house arrest, the severe curtailing of
her
            movements, the banning of songs by singers who expressed
support
            for her a decade ago, and roadblocks around her lakeside
residence,
            Myanmar's people have not forgotten Suu Kyi and her
pro-democracy
            speeches. 

            "She is a very good girl," said a one-time member of her
National
            League for Democracy (NLD). 

            "I am not a member of the NLD, but I like Aung San Suu Kyi,"
said
            another man. 

            Recent photographs of her are never seen in public. But
alongside
            small Buddhist shrines in hidden corners of some homes sits
a fading
            snapshot of Suu Kyi taken years ago. 

            It is a risk. If the feared military intelligence network
learns that
            someone has been expressing support for Suu Kyi, that person
is
            liable to be detained and interrogated, residents say. 

            "If they hear that I have said I like Aung San Suu Kyi, they
will take me
            away and want to know why," said one. 

            PICTURES IN A MUSEUM 

            Photos of Suu Kyi as a small child can be seen at a museum
            dedicated to her father, who was assassinated in 1947 as he
was
            preparing the country for independence from Britain. 

            In the modest house where the family lived, there are photos
of a tiny
            Suu Kyi with her father, mother and two brothers. 

            The "Bogyoke" or general is Myanmar's greatest hero, having
helped
            to found its armed forces during World War II. His
daughter's voice is
            one that is hard to silence. 

            Unable to criticise her ancestry, the state-controlled press
instead
            attack Suu Kyi's choice of husband, British academic Michael
Aris.
            Official articles refer to her disparagingly as "the wife of
a white" or
            "Bogadaw"-- the wife of a British colonialist. "Bog" was how
            Myanmar's people addressed British officials in colonial
times. 

            Newspapers on Tuesday accused Suu Kyi of trying to
destabilise the
            country and called on the military government to deport her,
saying her
            marriage to Aris made her a foreigner. 

            Myanmar's state media have repeatedly said that
Western-style
            democracy was not an appropriate form of government for the
country
            and that power could not be handed to the NLD. The party won
a
            landslide victory in elections in 1990, but the military
refused to hand
            over power. 

            Some analysts also have expressed doubts in the past about
Suu
            Kyi's confrontational strategy, suggesting that Myanmar was
still too
            poor and riven by too many ethnic divides to cope with this
type of
            politics. 

            A POLITICIAN BY ACCIDENT 

            Returning to Myanmar in the 1980s to nurse her sick mother,
Suu Kyi
            became the rallying point for the country's democracy
movement
            almost by accident. 

            Now at 53, supporters worry about the toll her recent
protests are
            taking on her health. Diplomats suggest members of the
government
            may be deeply worried about who might be blamed if she died
or was
            killed. 

            Some people believe that Suu Kyi might already have come to
power
            in this former British colony had she not married a British
man. 

            "Aung San Suu Kyi made one mistake-- being married to a
British
            man. If it was not for that I think she would be our leader
already," said
            one resident. 

            NO POLITICS 

            While the government may have failed to destroy the people's
affection
            for Suu Kyi, it has had other successes. Dozens of NLD
members
            have been thrown in jail and the movements of those senior
members
            still free are heavily monitored. 

            Ordinary people have been scared away from politics. 

            "No politics, no politics!" pleaded one taxi driver. 

            Only the activities of one political body-- the state-backed
Union
            Solidarity and Development Association-- go reported in the
official
            press. Foreign newspaper articles referring to Suu Kyi are
routinely cut
            out before the papers are allowed to circulate in Myanmar. 

            Suu Kyi's latest protests have mostly come to their
attention by rumour,
            or by tuning into the BBC's Myanmar-language news in the
evening on
            a shortwave radio. On a day-to-day basis many of Myanmar's
people
            have only the vaguest idea what is happening in their own
country. 

            "In Myanmar-- Ears deaf, eyes blind," said one man.