NEWS - Australia Criticises Myanmar

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Australia Criticises Myanmar Over Detentions

            Reuters
            12-AUG-98

            CANBERRA, Aug 12 (Reuters)- Myanmar's detention of 18
foreign
            activists showed the country's military junta was an
opponent to
            democratic speech, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer
            said on Wednesday. 

            Downer said the activists, who were detained in the capital
Yangon on
            Sunday for handing out leaflets commemorating the 1988
            pro-democracy uprising had been mounting a peaceful protest. 

            ``What this does is simply expose the regime in Burma in a
way that it
            deserves to be exposed, and that is, that it's a regime that
doesn't
            allow any dissent, any discussion, any debate,'' Downer told
reporters. 

            He said Myanmar needed to move away from military rule to a
            government with a ``broad, civil authority,'' and that
similar incidents
            would occur until political reform was implemented. 

            Downer said Australian Alison Vicary, who was being held in
a police
            guesthouse with the other 17 activists, was in good health,
and he
            expressed hope Vicary would be released soon. 

            The leaflet distribution was organised by the Altsean-Burma
network,
            the Alternative ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian
Nations)
            group in support of Myanmar's democracy movement. 

            Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said in Bangkok on
Tuesday the
            activists-- from Australia, the United States, Indonesia,
Thailand,
            Malaysia and the Philippines, might still be charged in
accordance
            with Myanmar's existing laws.