AP: SLORC's Undignified Attacks

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  SLORC's Undignified Attacks

   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- The military regime denounced pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday for marrying an Englishman and giving
birth to mixed-race children.
   The attack signaled the end of a one-day truce for a holiday marking the
assassination of Suu Kyi's father, independence hero Gen. Aung San.
   The state run-press, calling Aung San "Bogyoke," or general, castigated
his daughter as a spy betraying his struggle that freed Burma, also called
Myanmar, from British rule.
   The article said that Aung San had been assassinated at the hands of the
British, yet his daughter had married an Englishman, Tibet specialist
Michael Aris. The couple have two sons.
   "Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Bogyoke Aung San, had her blood mixed
with that of an Englishman and gave birth to two half-castes," it said.
   The article suggested that had she received "the love of her father in
his arms," Suu Kyi would have had a more authentically Burmese soul.
   Aung San was assassinated by political rival in 1947 during a Cabinet
meeting. Renegade factions of British intelligence were implicated in the
slaying. Suu Kyi was 2 years old when he was killed.
   Both the junta and Suu Kyi claim Aung San's legacy. The regime claims
Aung San's inheritance because it has resisted foreign domination over a
country hampered by a history of colonialism. Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel Peace
Prize winner, counters her father was an advocate of democracy who never
intended for the army to rule.
   Suu Kyi remains in a standoff with the government more than a year after
she was released from six years of house arrest.
   At what has become a weekend tradition, she addressed about 2,500 people
Saturday outside her home. One supporter complained Martyrs Day,
commemorating Aung San's death 49 years ago, was not allowed to be
celebrated in government offices and schools as is customary.
   "What the authorities have done is very mean, undignified and very
shameful," said Suu Kyi, wearing a cone-shaped bamboo hat to ward off
monsoon rain. "What is more important is that you remember the Martyrs Day
in your hearts."
   She was allowed to lay flowers Friday at his mausoleum.
   The military regime, meanwhile, celebrated a diplomatic coup Saturday
when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations formally admitted Burma as
an observer, ignoring appeals by Western nations.
   The military has ruled Burma since 1962. Suu Kyi emerged as leader of
the democracy movement in 1988 during street protests crushed by the
military.
   
KT
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