Suu Kyi may have to pay price for l

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Suu Kyi may have to pay price for latest protest 
10:48 a.m. Jul 30, 1998 Eastern 

By Rajan Moses 

BANGKOK, July 30 (Reuters) - The Myanmar military could make opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi pay a high price for her car protest, diplomats and
analysts said on Thursday. 

Payment could be in the form of more restrictions on her already curbed
movements, closer surveillance of her activities and a tougher line on her
National League for Democracy (NLD) and its supporters. 

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was forcibly removed by the military from a
car on Wednesday at a bridge in Anyarsu village on the outskirts Yangon and
sent home, ending her six-day sit-in protest. 

She had been stopped from travelling to western Pathein township on Friday
to meet party supporters and was ordered to return to Yangon, but she
refused. 

Her unique protest drew international condemnation of the Myanmar
government by the United States and Japan, who slammed the authorities
abuse of her right to travel freely in her own country. 

While embarrassing the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),
Suu Kyis protest also exposed flaws in the militarys hitherto iron-fisted
handling of her and the opposition, analysts said. 

As a result of this latest protest, there is a probability they could
restrict her movements further, said a Yangon-based diplomat. It has done
the cause of reconciliation no good. 

But other analysts said there was only a slim chance the military would
throw Suu Kyi, who was released from six years of house arrest in mid-1995,
back into detention. 

She and the opposition have said she may be put back in prison by the
authorities. But I doubt that will happen as the stakes may be too high for
the government and its image if they did that, said a Bangkok-based analyst
who declined to be named. 

It appears as if the authorities were panicked by her car protest and their
handling of the issue was a little messy this time, he added. 

The Alternative ASEAN Network, a rights group critical of the military,
said Suu Kyi had made her point to the world that she could not travel
freely in her own country. 

This supported opposition claims that the military was restricting
political activities and curbing human rights. 

But more trouble lay in store for the government and the NLD in the
immediate future because of two important dates: August 8 and August 21. 

August 8 is the 10th anniversary of a major student pro-democracy uprising
in 1998 that the military crushed. August 21 is the deadline set by the NLD
for the government to convene parliament with the winners of the May 1990
election, which the NLD swept but the military ignored. 

The opposition and its allies abroad have predicted more political
agitation in Myanmar at or around that time. 

Suu Kyi had demanded during her sit-in that jailed NLD members be freed and
a date be set for a dialogue about reconciliation. But the governments
spokesman said these were matters had yet to be addressed. 

The pot is boiling in Myanmar. There are still those dates and that could
lead to more standoffs and political hurdles, one analyst said. 

A senior government official said he could not say if Suu Kyis movements
would be further restricted. 

But there is always a saying, once bitten, twice shy, he told Reuters. We
have to be very cautious about those two dates (August 8 and 21) and ensure
nobody rocks the boat. 

The official said it would be quite difficult for the government to
completely stop all agitation. 

But there are limits in every country as to what people can do, and they
can be dealt with according to the law of the country, he said. 

For the government, it is important that no party disrupts the planned
August 18 reopening of institutions of higher learning, closed after
widespread student unrest in December 1996. 

More than 100,000 students are set to take their examinations during the
planned reopening. The kids are their (oppositions) soft target and we want
to make sure the institutions reopen, the official said.