Reuters-Myanmar govt, NLD lock horn

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Subject: Reuters-Myanmar govt, NLD lock horns on independence day

Myanmar govt, NLD lock horns on independence day
06:29 a.m. Jan 04, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government and the opposition
held separate rallies on Monday to mark the 51st anniversary of the
country's independence from British colonial rule, and attacked each other's
political agendas.

Premier and Senior General Than Shwe warned in a message to a pro-government
rally at People's Square that the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) party faced the wrath of Myanmar people for attempting to disrupt
national objectives.

He was referring to mass rallies organised by semi-government organisations
in 19 big cities nationwide in September and October of last year calling
for the disbanding of the NLD and deportation of the party's leader Aung San
Suu Kyi.

The NLD and the military have been at political loggerheads ever since the
military seized power in 1988 and the government refused to recognise the
results of a 1990 general election which the party swept.

The ruling State Peace and Developmnent Council (SPDC) has in the past
detained thousands of NLD members and later released them to curb the
party's political activities.

``We heartily honour the wishes of the masses reverberating from mass
meetings expressing the sentiments of the people...,'' Than Shwe said in his
message read out by a senior Yangon military officer to some 13,000
participants at the rally.

Suu Kyi, who has been a thorn in the military's side with her demands for
democracy and political freedom, held a low-key but defiant ceremony at the
NLD headquarters with top party brass.

The NLD vowed in a statement to press for the convening of a Peoples'
Parliament comprising elected representatives from the 1990 polls.

The party had made the call last year and set up a committee to further its
cause. But the SPDC has rejected the NLD's proposal.

``This committee hereby announces its resolution on this occasion that it
will continue perservering with courage for the emergence of the People's
Parliament and for the prevalence of democracy and human rights in the
country,'' it said.

State-owned media reported on Monday that another 421 NLD members in two
townships had resigned from their party, bringing to 6,844 the total number

of members who had quit since October last year.

The NLD has labelled the numbers issued by the government as false and
propaganda aimed at demoralising and intimidating its members.