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FEATURE-Myanmar's heart hides a pla



FEATURE-Myanmar's heart hides a place for Suu Kyi
                           02:35 a.m. Sep 08, 1998 Eastern

YANGON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - They think twice before even mentioning her name,
but Myanmar's opposition leader retains a special secret place in the hearts
of her people.

``In Myanmar, first is Buddha, second is Aung San Suu Kyi,'' said one Yangon
resident.

In the 10 years since the crushing of a pro-democracy uprising, the
country's military rulers have done all they can to destroy the influence of
the charismatic daughter of national hero Aung San.

But judging by the guarded comments of Yangon residents, they have failed.

                           UNSEEN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Despite six years of house arrest, the severe curtailing of her movements,
the banning of songs by singers who expressed support for her a decade ago,
and roadblocks around her lakeside residence, Myanmar's people have not
forgotten Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy speeches.

``She is a very good girl,'' said a one-time member of her National League
for Democracy(NLD).

``I am not a member of the NLD, but I like Aung San Suu Kyi,'' said another
man.

Recent photographs of her are never seen in public. But alongside small
Buddhist shrines in hidden corners of some homes sits a fading snapshot of
Suu Kyi taken years ago.

It is a risk. If the feared military intelligence network learns that
someone has been expressing support for Suu Kyi, that person is liable to be
detained and interrogated, residents say.

``If they hear that I have said I like Aung San Suu Kyi, they will take me
away and want to know why,'' said one.

                           PICTURES IN A MUSEUM

Photos of Suu Kyi as a small child can be seen at a museum dedicated to her
father, who was assassinated in 1947 as he was preparing the country for
independence from Britain.

In the modest house where the family lived, there are photos of a tiny Suu
Kyi with her father, mother and two brothers.

The ``Bogyoke'' or general is Myanmar's greatest hero, having helped to
found its armed forces during World War II. His daughter's voice is one that
is hard to silence.

Unable to criticise her ancestry, the state-controlled press instead attack
Suu Kyi's choice of husband, British academic Michael Aris. Official
articles refer to her disparagingly as ``the wife of a white'' or
``Bogadaw'' -- the wife of a British colonialist. ``Bog'' was how
Myanmar's people addressed British officials in colonial times.

Newspapers on Tuesday accused Suu Kyi of trying to destabilise the country
and called on the military government to deport her, saying her marriage to
Aris made her a foreigner.

Myanmar's state media have repeatedly said that Western-style democracy was
not an appropriate form of government for the country and that power could
not be handed to the NLD. The party won a landslide victory in elections in
1990, but the military refused to hand over power.

Some analysts also have expressed doubts in the past about Suu Kyi's
confrontational strategy, suggesting that Myanmar was still too poor and
riven by too many ethnic divides to cope with this type of politics.

                           A POLITICIAN BY ACCIDENT

Returning to Myanmar in the 1980s to nurse her sick mother, Suu Kyi became
the rallying point for the country's democracy movement almost by accident.

Now at 53, supporters worry about the toll her recent protests are taking on
her health. Diplomats suggest members of the government may be deeply
worried about who might be blamed if she died or was killed.

Some people believe that Suu Kyi might already have come to power in this
former British colony had she not married a British man.

``Aung San Suu Kyi made one mistake -- being married to a British man. If it
was not for that I think she would be our leader already,'' said one
resident.

                           NO POLITICS

While the government may have failed to destroy the people's affection for
Suu Kyi, it has had other successes. Dozens of NLD members have been thrown
in jail and the movements of those senior members still free are heavily
monitored.

 Ordinary people have been scared away from politics.

``No politics, no politics!'' pleaded one taxi driver.

Only the activities of one political body -- the state-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Association -- go reported in the official press.
Foreign newspaper articles referring to Suu Kyi are routinely cut out before
the papers are allowed to circulate in
Myanmar.

 Suu Kyi's latest protests have mostly come to their attention by rumour, or
by tuning into the BBC's Myanmar-language news in the evening on a shortwave
radio. On a day-to-day basis many of Myanmar's people have only the vaguest
idea what is happening in their own country.

``In Myanmar -- Ears deaf, eyes blind,'' said one man.