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Suu Kyi's house changes with campai



Subject: Suu Kyi's house changes with campaign (The Asian Age, 6/1/97)

Suu Kyi's house changes with campaign
The Asian Age, 6/1/97 (New Delhi)
 
BY DEBORAH CHARLES
 
Rangoon, Jan. 5: Life at Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside residence has 
changed drastically past 18 months.
 
In appearances alone, 54 University Avenue scarcely looks like the place 
which served as the Nobel Peace laureate's prison for six years.
 
When Ms Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in July 1995, journalists 
saw a run-down house in dire need of a new paint job surrounded by 
waist-high creepers that had been allowed to grow wild during the years 
Ms Suu Kyi was forced to remain at home. After her release, Ms Suu Kyi 
joked she was worried the media would be attacked by snakes living in the 
overgrown weeds.
 
Now the once-sleepy home on the shores of on the democracy movement in 
May 1996 just Inya Lake has a sharply different atmosphere. The grass is 
trimmed and a small garden is planted at the back of the main house. A 
huge, thatched-roof meeting hall that can house up to 1,000 people has 
been erected right in the middle of the compound, where Ms Suu Kyi and 
her National League for Democracy party held an Independence Day 
celebration on Saturday.
 
In addition, several makeshift buildings have come up near the front 
gates to house the military intelligence officers who guard the entrance 
and carefully scrutinise all visitors. Several other brick structures are 
being built, to house the several dozen people who have been living at Ms 
Suu Kyi's residence over the past year.
 
When the government renewed crackdowns as a party Congress was due to be 
held, several NLD members sought refuge in Ms Suu Kyi's house to avoid 
being arrested. Many of them have not left, and consider Ms Suu Kyi's 
house as their own.
 
"I live here," said one man proudly wearing a T-shirt with Ms Suu Kyi's 
face on the front and a slogan calling for democracy on the back.
 
"This is my house now. 1 cannot go home,,, said another NLD member who 
works closely with Ms Suu Kyi. In the past, bodyguards and some of Ms Suu 
Kyi's advisors have been arrested after leaving the compound in what is 
seen as part of a continuing effort to intimidate people from getting 
involved in the democracy movement. (Reuter)