BURMA DEMOCRATIC PARTY STILL EXISTS (r)

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Burma Democratic Party Still Exists .................
By Robert Horn 
Associated Press Writer 
Monday, September 8, 1997; 2:46 p.m. EDT 


BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- The leader of a movement to bring democracy to Burma 
says her political party is neither dead nor dormant despite a crackdown by 
the military government. 
In a rare videotaped interview smuggled out of Burma and seen in Bangkok on 
Monday, Aung San Suu Kyi also said she believes her movement has substantial 
support within the armed forces. 
The regime no longer allows journalists to meet with the 1991 Nobel Peace 
Prize winner and has severely restricted her movements while stepping up its 
actions against her party since last October. 
She said arrests of her party's members, and forced resignation of its members 
of Parliament, are proof the party is active despite attempts by the State Law 
and Order Restoration Council-known as SLORC-to crush it. 
"We are not a dormant party. That is why we are being harassed by SLORC. If we 
were dead and done for SLORC wouldn't bother to arrest anybody," Suu Kyi said. 

Suu Kyi held out hope that a compromise will be worked out with the 
government. During the 1990 elections her party, the National League for 
Democracy, scored victories in districts heavily populated by army personnel, 
she said. 
"I believe we have strong support within the army," she said. 
Suu Kyi played down a meeting last month between Gen. Khin Nyunt, the head of 
military intelligence, and her party's chairman, Aung Shwe. It was the first 
meeting between a SLORC general and an official of her party in years. 
"At best we could think of it as a sounding out to see whether dialogue is 
possible," Suu Kyi said. 
Suu Kyi said Burma's deteriorating economy and the regime's criticism helped 
her movement gain sympathy. 
Even though the regime shrugged off economic sanctions imposed by President 
Clinton, Suu Kyi said the military is very concerned about relations with the 
United States. 
"Otherwise they wouldn't waste so much energy attacking them," she said.