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Myanmar student demo another pointer to junta's demise: analysts
Mon 24 Aug 98 - 13:57 GMT
BANGKOK, Aug 24 (AFP) - A student pro-democracy protest in Yangon Monday
reflected
Myanmar's increasing political tensions and the rising confidence of the
isolated state's
opposition movement, analysts said.
"It was a pretty bold move," said one diplomat in the Myanmar capital.
"Perhaps a little foolish, too, as some of them have gone to jail. But the
point is they felt strong
enough to make the gesture."
Dozens of student protestors were detained when riot police swiftly broke up
the demonstration
at a major intersection Monday. No injuries were reported when the protest
ended after some
90 minutes, witnesses said.
Up to 150 protestors and some 1,000 onlookers scattered as the riot police
advanced on the
demonstration, the biggest such protest in Yangon since December 1996.
The protestors were wearing headbands carrying the "fighting peacock" symbol
of the
pro-democracy movement and chanted slogans, witnesses said.
"Unity among students and the people," they chanted. "Bring down the military
dictatorship
government."
The protestors, and the supportive crowd of onlookers they attracted, were a
clear indication
that people were gaining courage to oppose the junta, said an Asian envoy.
"We haven't seen anything at this level for quite a while," the envoy added.
"We've seen leaflets
left around the place or handed out but not a group of people just sitting
there and protesting."
Many foreign envoys believe that although the opposition enjoys wide support,
it is the spread
of the Asian fianncial crisis to Myanmar which has given it the extra boost.
The value of the kyat currency has plummetted, prices are rising,
infrastructure is unable to cope
and foreign investors are pulling out, they said.
"It's an economic disaster and as long as the rest of Asia is in the doldrums
then Myanmar will
suffer too," said a European diplomat.
"The (Myanmar) government says most people don't care about democracy," he
added.
"And that is true to a large extent. They care about food, they care aboput
water, and, if they
have it at all, they care about electricity supplies. They certainly care
about the price of rice and
fuel. What is the point having a vote if you don't have the basics for
survival?
"The government has no answers for these problems but the opposition doesn't
either. The
difference is the government has already had its turn so maybe people feel
it's time for a
change."
Myanmar's junta long saw Indonesia's ultimately doomed Suharto regime as a
model. But the
diplomats do not expect the same disintegration in Yangon as occurred this
year in Jakarta in
the lead-up to Suharto's resignation in May.
"They will reach some deal," said another European diplomat, a regional
political affairs
specialist.
"Perhaps the military can handle defence and some other portfolios and the
opposition can
handle some other matters. I don't think there would be a great problem if the
opposition
handled most domestic affairs.
"After all, plenty of other countries have similar arrangements and we (the
West) support them."