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PRESS RELEASE (r)



Press Release

Burmese dissidents in Japan gathered for a multi religious memory servive
for the late Dr. Michael Aris at Minami Otsuka hall in Tokyo.
The service was arranged by Joint Action Committee formed with various
pro-democracy groups such as Burmese Association in Japan,
Burma Youth Volunteer Association-Japan, Burmese Women Union (Japan Branch),
National League for Democracy(Liberated Area)-Japan
branch and Students Organization for Liberation of Burma. Also co-sponsor by
Peoples' Forum on Burma, a Japanese NGO which suppport
assistance to the Burmese refugees staying in Japan. Three Buddhist, Islamic
and Christian praying services made with three period of time.
Over hundred people attend the praying service with various religious groups
and Japanese NGOs including Amnesty International-Japanese section. The
representatives gave their condolence message to the audience.
Hosaka Nobuto, Takashi Kosugi, Yukio Hatoyama, members of the House of
Representatives and Yasuko Takemura, member of the House of Councillors send
condolence message to the ceremony. The Honorable Embassador of Norway and
The Political Consular from British Embassy gave a brief message, during
their attendence at the srevice.

Burma Youth Volunteer Association - Japan

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Aris mourned in Tokyo
Yomiuri Shimbun, April 3, 1999.

Mourners on Friday paid their last respects to Michael Aris, the late
husband of Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in
a service held at Minami Otsuka Hall in Toshima Ward, Tokyo.

The service was multireligious, with Buddhist, Islamic and Christian priests
in attendance.

About 100 Myanmar people who reside in Japan offered prayers for the
deceased and for democracy in Myanmar.

The Burmese Association in Japan, the Myanmar opposition National League for
Democracy's Japan branch, and students' and women's groups jointly sponsored
the service.

------------------------
Suu Kyi backers gather to mourn Aris
The Japan Times April 3, 1999.

More than 50 people gathered at a hall Friday in Tokyo's Toshima Ward to
mourn the death of Michael Aris, who was married to Myanmar opposition
leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ye Htut, chairman of the Japan branch of Myanmar's National League for
Democracy Liberated Area, offered deep condolences to Suu Kyi and her two

sons.

Aris, a British scholar who specialized in Tibetan studies at Oxford
University, died of prostate cancer last month in London at the age of 53.
"It's very sad that our goddess to promote democracy in Burma lost someone
who truly supported her," Ye Htut said in Burmese at the multireligious
memorial service. "We appreciate what Dr. Aris did for his wife, which was
also for the Burmese. At the same time, we are angry at the (Myanmar)
military regime," he said.

Repeated requests to Myanmar's junta by Aris for a visa to visit his wife
before he died proved futile. Although the junta offered to allow Suu Kyi to
leave Myanmar to see her husband in Britain, she did not accept the offer,
fearing she would not be allowed to return.

Sumie Iwata, executive director of the National Christian Council Center for
Christian Repose to Asian Issues, said she believes Suu Kyi's decision to
stay in Myanmar was right because she feels she would not have been allowed
to return to her homeland.

She also said Aris' visa rejections have only fueled support for his wife
while generating international criticism of the military regime.