Beacon of freedom bides her time (T

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Subject: Beacon of freedom bides her time (The Independent/Daily Yomiuri)

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The democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi tells of her
latest clash with the junta.  Thomas Caleb reports from
Rangoon

The Independent=20
(The Daily Yomiuri June 23, 1996)

Beacon of freedom bides her time
by Thomas Caleb

All his star charts and astrolabes failed to warn the
official soothsayer used by Burma's generals of the
horrendous gaffe he was about to commit.=20

Members of the ruling junta had gathered for the
consecration of a Buddhist pagoda in Mandalay and the
astrologer, Myaung, was down in a freshly dug hole,
calculating the exact, auspicious moment when the
foundation stone was to be laid. Finally, he called up to
the generals: "Respected sirs, the time has come for you
to leave your seats and step down."=20

As they rose decorously, a titter raced through the crowd.
The Burmese have an ear for puns and Myaung's
command was interpreted to have a double meaning: he
was ordering the junta to resign and restore democracy.
The generals were unamused: Myaung was demoted and
now peddles horoscopes. Whatever divinations he may
now be making about the regime, he keeps to himself.=20

It is not a matter he dares to share with foreign visitors.
Yet in a country obsessed with horoscopes and
numerology, talk in the Rangoon market - places is of
shifting planets over the next two months which will usher
in big political changes.=20

But instead of star - gazing, the Burmese have to glance
no farther than down a certain street in Rangoon -
University Avenue, home of the opposition leader and
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, to reach
the same conclusion.=20

She and her pro - democracy supporters are on a
collision course with the junta, known as Slorc (the State
Law and Order Restoration Council). Editorials in the
military - run press vilify her as a "puppet princess" and
"sorceress" unleashed against Burma by Britain. Many
Burmese brush aside these accusations of Britain's
colonial ambitions as ridiculous; they also find the slurs
against Ms Suu Kyi to be repugnant.=20

At her rally last weekend, she cautioned some 6,000
supporters not to become angry over insults slung at her
by the military press.=20

She told the Independent: "The Slorc say that we are
provocative but look at the articles that appear in their
newspaper. It tells more about them than me." In the
house beside the lake where she spent six years under
house arrest, Ms Suu Kyi spoke of her latest showdown
with Slorc, which has passed a law that threatens her
and her supporters with up to 20 years' jail for attending
one of her pro - democracy rallies.=20

"We're flexible. May I suggest that Slorc try some friendly
persuasion with us instead of using the hammers," she
suggested. More than 120 members of her National
League for Democracy (NLD) have been under arrest
since last month, when Ms Suu Kyi called a party
congress to draw up a new constitution. It was after this
"provocation" that Slorc lashed back with draconian new
laws.=20

"We're committed to preparing a draft constitution but
we're down to earth. That means we don't have any
intention of writing a constitution and shoving it down
people's throats," she said. Pro - democracy activists
want to reduce to military's sway over future civilian
governments. Since her release from detention in July,
the junta has snubbed Ms Suu Kyi, who realises that she
could face re-arrest.=20

"It's a possibility. Maybe the Slorc is just biding its time.
But even if I'm arrested, we'll continue our work for
democracy. These threats are nothing new to us," she
added, laughing.=20

After seeing how many of her supporters defied the
Slorc's ban on her rallies, many Western observers in
Rangoon predict that putting Ms Suu Kyi back in
detention could lead to public unrest, which she opposes.
She said: "I'd like to think that even without me, people
would find a safe but effective way of carrying on our
movement "


Many Rangoon diplomats that if the junta were to lock up
the Nobel Peace Prize winner many countries which were
willing to overlook the army's ugly traits -- its widespread
use of forced labour, it's corruption and its human - rights
violations -- might withdraw their investment.=20

Since 1990, Burma's generals have only managed to
attract $800m (=9C550m) in investment, far less than their
neighbours.=20

Ms Suu Kyi has hesitated calling for full - scale
international sanctions against the Slorc, since this would
hurt the Burmese, who are among Asia's poorest people.=20

"When you look at our country, do not just see it as a land
of economic possibilities ... Understand that we also want
to live peacefully," Kyi explained to foreign businessmen
recently. The economy is so mismanaged that even
though Burma is one of the region's biggest rice
producers, little boys at the Rangoon river docks trail after
the stevedores, hoping to catch a few falling grains of rice
from leaky sacks.=20

And now she says wistfully, "Maybe the Slorc doesn't
understand that they have nothing to lose in talking to us.
But perhaps they're too attached to all their medals and
other trappings."=20


Dangerous liaisons in Burmese fight for democracy
Thomas Caleb in Rangoon

The secret police are everywhere in Rangoon. The hotel
telephones are usually bugged, and there are informers in
every government office and university building.=20

The waiters in the tourist restaurants are also skilled
eavesdroppers. Even the family compound where Aung
San Suu Kyi lives is being watched by agents of the
dreaded Military Intelligence (MI). So the Burmese are
naturally jittery about being spotted in conversation with a
foreigner.=20

I never saw any secret police following me in Rangoon,
but my dissident friends assured me that I probably was
being tailed.=20
Giant signboards have sprouted around Rangoon,
proclaiming the "People's Desire". The fourth point of the
"People's Desire" is: "Crush all internal and external
destructive elements as the common enemy". Because
the posters were in English, it is safe to assume they
were a warning against nosey visitors like me.=20

At worst, the authorities would expel me as "a destructive
element". But if my activist friends were caught, they
would face a long and extremely painful spell in prison.
To elude the MI agents, my pro - democracy friends had
perfected dodges: We avoided the main avenues and
instead stuck to the hilly back lanes. We sneaked
through restaurant kitchens and strange little shops to
meet dissidents.=20

Considering how cruel the ruling military can be with their
own people, it is surprising how many risks some
Burmese are willing to take. Stay in Rangoon long
enough and you begin to see subversion, or at least
surreal anomalies, everywhere. Take the state - run
newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar. A headline
reminded readers of the "blood and sweat" that the
military had sacrificed for the country, which is a very
noble sentiment, except that it accompanied a
photograph of five generals teeing - off on a golf driving
range.=20

The ruling military council seems to vacillate between
xenophobia and an almost childlike craving for affection
and understanding.=20

Most of the construction going on in Rangoon is hotels
for tourists, for the generals are rightly proud of their
scenic country. But the junta's thuggishness frightens off
many visitors, so hundreds of these new hotels are
empty. Building hotels in Rangoon is an accepted way for
"surrendered" Burmese druglords to launder their heroin
money.=20

The most notorious of all the Golden Triangle heroin
smugglers, Khun Sa, is enjoying the junta's hospitality in
Rangoon. His transportation expertise, along with his
narco - millions, are being put to good use by the
generals. He has reportedly been given permission to
operate a public coach line through Burma into China.=20

While the ruling military council is willing to shield
druglords, its cruelty towards its less influential
"lawbreakers" is chilling.=20

In the delta region of the Irrawaddy river, farmers must
give 50 per cent of their rice crop to the army. Pro -
democracy activists in the region said that recently one
farmer's crop was destroyed by storms. So the farmer
ran away. He was hunted down by the military
commander and publicly strung from a tree. "After they
hanged the farmer," said the activist, "the soldiers then
chopped down the tree, as if to pretend that neither the
farmer, nor the tree had ever existed."=20

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