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No Burma fanfare for Aung San Suu K



Subject: No Burma fanfare for Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday 


 No Burma fanfare for Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday 
 02:49 a.m. Jun 18, 1997 Eastern 

 By Sutin Wannabovorn 

 BANGKOK, June 18 (Reuter) - Burmese opposition leader Aung
 San Suu Kyi's birthday will be celebrated quietly, but exiled political
 activists and human rights groups will mark the occasion by declaring
 June 19 as Burma's Women's Day, sources close to her said on
 Wednesday. 

 The Nobel Peace Prize laureate planned to mark her 52nd birthday
 on Thursday by offering food and necessities to five Buddhist monks
 at her lakeside residence in central Rangoon. 

 ``She wants to make her birthday a simple Buddhist occasion where
 around 15 people will participate in offering alms to monks,'' one of
 her aides told Reuters. 

 ``There will be no speeches or political gathering. As Burmese
 Buddhists, we know how to separate religion from politics,'' her aide
 said. 

 The aide said Suu Kyi welcomed reports that exiled Burmese and
 human rights groups would declare her birthday Burmese Women's
 Day to highlight a campaign of ending women's and other human
 rights abuses in Burma. 

 ``She has learned about people outside the country planning to make
 her birthday Burma's Women's Day. This is good news...some kind
 of appreciation and aspiration for the democracy movement,'' her
 aide said. 

 The Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (Altsean-Burma),
 grouping exiled political and human rights activists, was set to create
 a fanfare in observing Suu Kyi's birthday in Bangkok. 

 ``June 19 is significant because it is the birthday of Nobel Laureate
 and Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the most
 internationally admired women in contemporary times,''
 Altsean-Burma said in a statement. 

 It said the Burma Women's Day would highlight the situation in
 Burma as a matter of grave concern for all women. 

 ``The safety and equality of women, let alone their rights as human
 beings, are a casualty of brutal oppression perpetuated by Burma's
 State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC),''
 Altsean-Burma spokeswoman Debbie Stothard said. 

 The group will stage a silent protest in front of the Burmese embassy
 in Bangkok to mark the day and organise a religious function and
 hotel reception for hundreds of invited guests. 

 Burma is due to become a member of the Association of Southeast
 Asian Nations, or ASEAN, later this year despite Western protest.
 ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
 Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

 Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide
 victory in May 1990 elections that SLORC has not recognised. 

 ``We invite NLD executive members to make merit at the party
 headquarters and have food together, but there will be no political
 discussion,'' NLD deputy chairman Tin Oo told Reuters. 

 ``I don't know whether Aung San Suu Kyi will join the merit making
 at the party headquarters,'' Tin Oo said. 

 Suu Kyi, a strict vegetarian for more than two years, was recovering
 from an injury sustained from a fall downstairs at her house last
 week. ^REUTER@