Reuters-Suu Kyi's party blasts Myan

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Subject: Reuters-Suu Kyi's party blasts Myanmar govt on visa issue 

Suu Kyi's party blasts Myanmar govt on visa issue
07:19 a.m. Mar 29, 1999 Eastern
By Sutin Wannabovorn

BANGKOK, March 29 (Reuters) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
will not go to England for the funeral of her late husband Michael Aris
despite a government offer to allow her to return to Myanmar, a confidant
said on Monday.

Suu Kyi was worried she may not be allowed to return and has already begun
performing Buddhist rites for her late husband in Yangon, said Tin Oo, vice
president of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

``Even though she is a devout Buddhist, she is definitely not leaving Yangon
to perform rites for her husband there. She is performing Buddhist rites for
him here. On the seventh day on Friday she will hold a major ceremony in her
house,'' he told Reuters in a telephone interview from Yangon.

Suu Kyi herself was unavailable for comment as her telephone is inaccessible
from abroad.

But the NLD issued a statement late on Monday criticising the military
government for agreeing to allow her to go to her husband's funeral but
placing some restrictions on her at the same time.

``It was restricted that her visit was meant only for carrying out social
and family affairs and nothing to do with politics,'' it said.

``It is entirely improper to restrict such a world famous Nobel Prize
laureate and democracy leader. Issuing the announcement mentioning the offer
to travel even after the secretary (Suu Kyi) had said she would not go is
insincere,'' it added.

Aris, an Oxford academic, died on his 53rd birthday on Saturday of prostate
cancer.

On Friday, the government said it would allow Suu Kyi to return to Yangon if
she went to England to see her terminally ill husband provided she did not
politicise the visit. But Suu Kyi had rejected the offer, the government
said.

Analysts noted she had rejected the offer because she feared the military
might not honour its pledge and might take action against her NLD party if
she was absent from the country.

On Sunday, the government again offered her assistance to go to England for
the funeral, but this time did not repeat its guarantee she could return
after the trip.

Suu Kyi on Saturday paid a warm tribute to her late husband in a statement
to Yangon diplomats.


``I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful husband who has always given me
the understanding I needed. Nothing can take that away from me,'' the
statement said.

Tin Oo said condolence books had been opened at her lakeside residence at
University Avenue and at the NLD party headquarters in the capital. But
people who had come to sign the book were being photographed and asked to
identify themselves, the NLD said.

Asked how Suu Kyi was taking her husband's death, he said: ``She is quite
alright now but as a human being she is very much filled with regret and
very sad about the death of her husband.''

``Aung San Suu Kyi said she is very proud of her husband who has understood
her cause until the last minute. She is also proud of her sons who
sympathise with her and understand her,'' he added.

Myanmar has refused to grant Aris a visa to visit Suu Kyi the past three
years, the latest refusal coming just shortly before his death.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada said on Monday that Myanmar had lost a
chance to build confidence by not allowing Aris to visit Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

``Before Dr Aris' death, the Philippines had been quietly making
representations with the government of Myanmar for the issuance of a visa to
Dr Aris as a compassionate and humanitarian gesture,'' Estrada said in a
presidential palace news release.

``We regret that Dr Aris' wish to visit his wife, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whom
he had not seen for years, was not fulfilled,'' he added.

The Philippines and Myanmar are both members of the Association of South
East Asian Nations.