NEWS - Myanmar junta says Aung San

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

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.