Burmese opposition politicans detai

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Subject: Burmese opposition politicans detained 

World: Asia-Pacific
BBC 3/3/99
Burmese opposition politicans detained
The government says it is being "cautious" to prevent renewed unrest 

The leader of the Burmese opposition Aung San Suu Kyi says more than 145 of
her party's members have been detained by the government in a series of
recent roundups. 

  
The BBC's David Willis talks to Wim Aung for BBC World 
As Burma begins its 38th year of military dictatorship the government has
reiterated its position that there must be order in the country before
progress towards democratisation can take place. 

Aung San Suu Kyi says that a number of members of the National League for
Democracy have been held at so-called government guesthouses where they were
persuaded to resign from the party. 

The government denies putting pressure on opposition politicians but the
statement from Miss Suu Kyi is unlikely to better the already battered image
of the Burmese government overseas. 

'Stability and prosperity' 

The country's newly appointed Foreign Minister Win Aung says it is the
government's responsibility to protect Burma's "silent majority" against the
excesses of the NLD and the government was merely being "cautious". 


Win Aung says foreigners have misunderstood Burma 
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Win Aung said the NLD leadership had
slandered government efforts to bring stability and prosperity to the
country. 

He said the universities, closed for much of the past decade, would reopen
"as soon as possible". 

The foreign minister said they had been closed because the students had been
"misused" by political forces "to rally and bring down the government". 

He said many outsiders misunderstood the situation in Burma, but he said
people are free to go about their normal daily business "protected from the
anarchy that could come back very easily."