NEWS - Myanmar junta doubts called-

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Subject: NEWS - Myanmar junta doubts called-for uprising next month will

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Myanmar-politics,sched-lead
   Myanmar junta doubts called-for uprising next month will happen 
   ATTENTION - ADDS quotes, details, background ///
   
   YANGON, Aug 21 (AFP) - Myanmar's military junta Saturday claimed
people 
were largely ignoring calls by dissidents and exiled students for a mass 
uprising next month.
   Junta spokesman Hla Min told AFP there was little sign the
demonstrations 
planned for September 9 would even happen.
   "It's pleasantly quiet here, you don't see extra security on the
road," the 
spokesman said.
   "Unfortunately those groups on the Thai border are trying to make
things 
look as if everything is ready to blow up, but nothing is ready to blow
up."
   An AFP correspondent in Yangon also said there were no signs of
tightened 
security.
   And diplomats in Yangon said the capital was very secure and in the 
unlikely event that an uprising was to occur, it could only take place
outside 
the capital.
   "The perceived wisdom is that there won't be a mass uprising," said
one.
   August 8 -- 8/8/88 -- marked the 11th anniversary of a popular
uprising in 
which hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators were gunned down and a
junta 
took power from strongman Ne Win.
   That anniversary passed off peacefully but opposition groups have
said 
Myanmar's people have an "appointment" with September 9 -- 9/9/99 -- to
repeat 
the events of the 1988 uprising and end the military's 37-year
domination.
   However Hla Min said most people in Myanmar were ignoring the
"four-nines" 
movement.
   "People are fed up with all this nonsense," he said. "On the ninth
they 
will create here and there small things, but no major disturbances.
   "The overwhelming majority of the people are not obsessed with
politics, 
nobody is interested in this so-called 9999."
   He also dismissed student protests, saying "the grown-ups will not be
duped 
into doing things like that".
   Despite its claims of no support for the "four nines" movement, the 
military has confirmed it has arrested 37 suspected dissidents in recent
weeks 
in connection with the planned uprising.
   The All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) says 150 people have
been 
detained in the past month, including members of the main opposition
National 
League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi.
   On Saturday the ABSDF also countered that support for the mass
uprising was 
widespread, with the majority of people frustrated by dismal economic 
conditions, human rights violations and political oppression.
   ABSDF secretary general Aung Thu Nyein said throughout Myanmar's
history, 
students had been at the forefront of the democracy movement.
   "It's not so strange that high school students are involved, after
all the 
universities have been closed for three years and high schools are the
only 
places left where people can gather in mass," said Aung Thu Nyein.
   He said high school students in Tamwe township in Yangon staged
protests  
Thursday in support of the September 9 movement and 150 students in the 
southern town of Mergui held similar protests on August 12.
   "The demonstrations at high schools reflect the will of all the
people," he 
said.
   Aung Thu Nyein added there was concern that all schools might be
closed by 
the military in an attempt to head off trouble on September 9.
   The NLD won an overwhelming victory in elections in 1990, but the
military 
ignored the result.
   gw-agr-kmt/ajp