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Reuters-Myanmar signals Suu Kyi won



Myanmar signals Suu Kyi won't be held, deported 
06:58 a.m. Sep 11, 1998 Eastern 

By Sutin Wannabovorn 

BANKGOK, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military rulers have signalled they
will not deport or arrest opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an Asian
diplomat based in Yangon said on Friday. 

But the military has indicated it would use all other means available to
block her National League for Democracy (NLD) party's plans to hold a
``People's Parliament'' meeting in the capital in the near future, he told
Reuters. 

The diplomat, who declined to be identified, was told of these strategies
by officials of the ruling military State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) during regular bilateral meetings this week. 

The diplomat said the current detention of more than 328 NLD members since
Sunday, including 71 elected representatives, reflected a strategy by the
SPDC to avoid direct confrontation with her. 

``They (SPDC) said they will not arrest or deport her (Suu Kyi) but at the
same time they cannot allow her to organise the People's Parliament meeting
because it is against the law,'' said the diplomat. 

Suu Kyi and her NLD party have countered that convening such a parliament
was not against the law and were said by some opposition sources to have
tentatively planned the parliament meeting for September 18. 

The NLD said on Friday 702 of its members had been detained by the military

government since May 27, the day Suu Kyi suggested at a party congress a
People's Parliament be convened comprising representatives elected in a May
1990 election. The NLD swept that poll but the military ignored the result.


The NLD said in a statement that of the total detained in past months, 194
were elected representatives and 508 party members from various areas and
levels. 

The diplomat said the SPDC had hinted the detained NLD members would be
held until after the ASEAN foreign ministers completed their special
meeting in New York on September 23-24. 

Myanmar is part of the nine-member Association of South East Asian Nations.


The SPDC feared Suu Kyi and her supporters would take the opportunity to
publicise the plight of Myanmar's opposition internationally, the diplomat
added. 

``Suu Kyi had lunch with the Philippines ambassador yesterday and the SPDC
suspects that she might have onpassed some kind of message to ASEAN,'' he
said. 

Suu Kyi drew global attention last month and in July when she launched
protracted car sit-in protests near Yangon against the military's curbs on
her trips to meet supporters. 

One of her protests coincided with an ASEAN ministerial meeting that was
being held in Manila in July and drew heavy flak from representatives from
Western nations, particularly the United States. 

Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and her NLD have been locked in
a prolonged political standoff over the road to democracy for Myanmar. 

Articles in the state-owned media have advocated that Suu Kyi, who is
married to a British academic, be deported for her anti-government stance
and links to Western supporters. 

But the SPDC clarified this week that views expressed in the media were not
those of the government's and it had no plans to deport her. 

The SPDC has also flatly rejected her demand for the convening of a
parliament of elected representatives from the 1990 election, saying that a
new national constitution must be drawn up first before parliament is
assembled. 

But a government-appointed national convention of handpicked delegates that
was due to draw up the charter has not met since 1996. The NLD pulled out
of the convention in late 1995 and has accused the government of lying on
the drawing up of the charter.