STANDARD NEWS - (25/12/95)

[uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

	ASIA: GOVERNMENT LEADER CALLS SUU KYI "COLONIALIST'
BURMA SUBVERSIVE
   RANGOON, Burma, Dec 25 AP - In an indirect attack on Nobel Peace 
Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of Burma's secret police 
said in an official newspaper today that "subversive elements" are 
bent on destroying the country.
	   General Khin Nyunt, who is regarded as the number two man in 
Burma's military junta, made the remarks in a speech at an airport 
opening ceremony in the provinces, the state-owned New Light of 
Myanmar newspaper said.
	   "Adopted children of the colonialists under the external 
influence are trying to cause the disintegration of the union," 
Khin Nyunt said. He referred to "subversive elements".
	   Khin Nyunt never named Suu Kyi, but a recurring tactic of the 
military government has been to portray Suu Kyi as a foreigner 
trying impose un-Burmese ideas on the country.
	   Although she is married to a British academic and spent several 
years of her adult life abroad, most Burmese regard Suu Kyi, the 
daughter of independence hero Aung San, as one of their own.
	   Khin Nyunt's comments come as tensions are rising between the 
government, which came to power in 1988 after slaughtering 
thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators, and democratic forces 
represented by Suu Kyi and her political party, the National League 
for Democracy.
	   Suu Kyi's party recently boycotted a national convention called 
to draw up guidelines for a new constitution. Democracy advocates 
have branded the convention a sham designed to ensure military 
rule.
	   "A group of people in the interest of their own political party 
and neglecting the welfare of the state have been trying to disrupt 
the ongoing convention," Khin Nyunt said.
	   A few weeks earlier General Tin Oo, another junta leader, 
referred to Suu Kyi as a traitor and warned anyone who attempted to 
disrupt the convention would be "annihilated".
	   On Saturday, Suu Kyi was detained briefly by the military and 
prevented from attending a Christmas celebration for members of the 
ethnic Karen minority. Some factions of the Karen have been 
fighting for autonomy from the government in Rangoon.
	   A number of her supporters have also been arrested.
	   Preventing the disintegration of the country is another 
recurring theme of the military. Following its independence from 
Britain in 1948, Burma was wracked by civil war with various ethnic 
groups for more than four decades.
	   Although ceasefires have been signed with 15 of 16 ethnic 
groups, the Mon recently renounced their agreement with the 
government, and the Karen have never laid down their arms.
	   Suu Kyi has repeatedly said the way to solve conflicts with the 
ethnic minorities is through dialogue.
	   AP sl

	ASIA: DISSIDENT BARRED FROM CELEBRATION, PARTY MEMBERS DETAINED
BURMA AUNG (CARRIED EARLIER)
   RANGOON, Burma, Dec 23 AP - Authorities stopped dissident leader 
Aung San Suu Kyi from attending a New Year celebration of the Karen 
ethnic minority and took her to military headquarters for a 
warning, her political party said today.
	   Four other people who had tried to arrange for her to attend the 
celebration on Thursday were detained and had not yet been 
released, said Win Htein, spokesman for Mrs Suu Kyi's National 
League for Democracy.
	   He said the four -- three NLD members and the patron of the New 
Year event -- were arrested on Wednesday night.
	   Mrs Suu Kyi, who was released in July from six years of house 
arrest by the country's military government, tried to attend the 
celebration in the northern Rangoon suburb of Insein anyway but was 
stopped en route by authorities, Win Htein said.
	   Before returning home, she was taken to the Rangoon Command 
military headquarters, where she was told the celebration was a 
traditional get-together of the Karen and not a political 
gathering, he said.
	   The military seized power in 1988 after violently suppressing 
pro-democracy street demonstrations. It held a general election in 
1990 but then refused to turn over power after a landslide victory 
by the NLD.
	   The Karen New Year is celebrated annually with speeches, 
feasting, dancing and music. Insein, a working class neighborhood, 
has a high concentration of Karen. The minority has been one of the 
most active in fighting the Burmese government for greater autonomy 
in its homeland in the country's east.
	   Win Htein identified the arrested men as Khun Myint Tun and Tin 
Tun Oo, youth members of the NLD; Saw Tin Win, a member of the 
NLD's central committee in Pa-an, the capital of Karen state; and 
Mann Htay Shein, the patron of the Karen celebration.
	   Win Htein also confirmed a report that an NLD member in 
Mandalay, the country's second biggest city, had been detained for 
distributing videotapes of NLD activities.
	   He said the reason given for the December 16 arrest of Sein Hla 
Aung was that it was illegal to distribute videotapes without 
clearance from the government censorship board. Sein Hla Aung would 
be tried on December 26, he said.
	   The US-based group Human Rights Watch/Asia, in a statement 
issued on Thursday, reported that Sein Hla Aung was arrested for 
distributing videotapes of speeches that Mrs Suu Kyi gives every 
weekend to crowds that gather outside the gates of her Rangoon 
home.
	   Distributing audio and videotapes of Mrs Suu Kyi's speeches is 
the principal way her message gets out to the people, as mass 
political gatherings are still banned in Burma.
	   Human Rights Watch also claimed that under new restrictions 
placed on the NLD, party members must seek permission from local 
government officials before travelling within the country or 
attending NLD meetings. There has not been any public confirmation 
of the ban.
	   AP ao