[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Myanmar Media Warns Suu Kyi May Be



Subject: Myanmar Media Warns Suu Kyi May Be Put On Trial

Myanmar Media Warns Suu Kyi May Be Put On Trial
03:40 a.m. Jan 08, 1999 Eastern
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's government-owned media warned Friday that
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi may be put on trial for what it said were
anti-national activities.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the leader of the National League
for Democracy (NLD) party had broken the law by divulging state secrets to
foreign nations, and kept in contact with outlawed expatriate and rebel
groups.

``She not only divulges secrets of the State to foreign nations but also
called for destruction of the State openly,'' an article in the paper said.

``She is breaking the existing laws, keeping in contact with outlawed
expatriate group(s) that rebelled with arms and Karen National Union group,
declared as (an) unlawful association,'' it added.

``Daw Suu Kyi is warned that action can be taken against her anytime with
sufficient evidence according to law,'' it said.

The article predicted the NLD, which is at political odds with the ruling
military State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), would break up if Suu
Kyi was no longer in the party.

It said that Suu Kyi, daughter of Myanmar's independence hero Aung San, had
been tolerated by the government for so long because of her late father.

But she was taking advantage of that, causing some Myanmar people to demand
Suu Kyi's deportation, it added.

Suu Kyi was not available for comment. She is prohibited from having regular
contacts with foreign media.

Suu Kyi, released from six years of house arrest in July 1995, has been the
military rulers' nemesis.

She led the NLD to a landslide victory in the 1990 general election, but the
military refused to recognize the results of that poll. Since then the NLD
and the government have consistently waged a political war.

The military has detained and later released thousands of NLD activists and
curbed the party's activities as Suu Kyi and the NLD grab world attention
with calls for greater democracy and freedom for Myanmar people.

The NLD has set up a committee to press for the convening of a Peoples
Parliament comprising elected representatives from the 1990 elections. But
the SPDC has rejected the NLD's call for a parliament.

Local media also reported that 7,168 NLD members had resigned from the party
since October 1998 after anti-NLD rallies organized by pro-government
organizations in 19 towns across the nation.

But the NLD has said that such statements are government propaganda and some
of its members were being forced by the military to leave the party.