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Myanmar Dismisses Suu Kyi Deportati



Subject: Myanmar Dismisses Suu Kyi Deportation Rumors 

Myanmar Dismisses Suu Kyi Deportation Rumors
01:22 a.m. Dec 27, 1998 Eastern
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government Sunday dismissed rumors
that it might deport opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying they
represented attempts by her party to create news headlines.

A Myanmar government statement said Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD) should join the ruling military and other countries in finding ways of
riding out the Asian economic crisis, rather than trying to seek publicity.

``We hope the NLD will contribute in a positive and meaningful way to
achieve a better, fuller life...and take a more responsible, constructive
cooperation rather than resorting to whimsical and symbolic gestures
designed merely to attract attention and create seasonal sensational
headline,'' it said.

A NLD statement obtained by Reuters Friday quoted Suu Kyi as saying that she
had no intention of leaving Myanmar amid rumors in Yangon that she might be
expelled from the country and the NLD dissolved after New Year.

The Nobel peace laureate said the government would have problems finding a
country to accept her as she held only Myanmar's citizenship.

Myanmar's official media have in recent months questioned whether Suu Kyi is
still entitled to Myanmar nationality, on the grounds that she had married a
British man, academic Michael Aris.

Semi-government organizations have in the past two months organized anti-NLD
rallies in which they called for Suu Kyi's deportation and dissolution of
her party.

State-owned media have also made similar demands since mid- September when
the NLD launched its Committee Representing People's Parliament (CRPP).

The government statement Sunday said it was not an appropriate time for Suu
Kyi and the NLD to engage in sensational politics while most Asian countries
still struggle to recover from the economic turmoil.

``The Government of Myanmar is working hard to develop Myanmar and guide it
through the current regional economic crisis. Much work remains ahead of us.
The regional economic crisis is not improving and this is no time for
playing politics,'' it said.

The NLD statement quoted Suu Kyi as saying this week that the ruling
government, called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), would
probably need to bribe a foreign totalitarian state with Myanmar's
commodities in order to induce it to accept her.

``The only way for the ruling government to deport me is to make a
give-and-take with a totalitarian state, by giving them a certain number of
tons of rice or so...they don't have a rocket to send me to the moon
either,'' she said.