SCMP-Exiles hope to incite masses t

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Subject: SCMP-Exiles hope to incite masses to mark 9-9-99

South China Morning Post
Friday, August 6, 1999

BURMA

Exiles hope to incite masses to mark 9-9-99
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Bangkok

Exiled pro-democracy activists yesterday called for an uprising against the
junta and revealed detailed plans to incite unrest on September 9.
Dissidents and exiled politicians said expectations were high that civil
unrest would break out countrywide on that date.

Monks and students were planning acts of disobedience this week to encourage
a "revolution", they said.

Tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of the August 8, 1988, uprising which led
to the deaths of hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators and the
perpetuation of military rule.

Opposition groups said the people felt they had an "appointment" with
9-9-99 - nine is a powerful figure in Burmese numerology - to repeat the
events of 8-8-88 and end the military's 37-year domination of politics.

"No one can predict the future but there is an atmosphere of possibility all
over Burma that this period will be the beginning of a wave of force that
will topple the regime," said Min Zin, spokesman for the All Burma Students
Federation Union.

"The expectations of the people in the street in Burma are high everywhere."

Exiled student activists in Bangkok said underground pro-democracy networks
inside Burma were planning to instigate a general strike tomorrow to
encourage unrest on September 9.

All Burma Students Democratic Front spokesman Aung Thu Nyeim said activists
were also asking people to wear yellow tomorrow and light candles in support
of democracy.

"We are calling for a strike. We are calling for a people's campaign on that
day to honour those who sacrificed themselves in 1988," he said.

"The revolution started then has not finished and the Burmese people will
accomplish their goal this time."

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma spokesman Teddy Buri
said the country was in worse shape now than in 1988.

Drug addiction was rampant, the economy a shambles, hospitals had run out of
medicine and 300,000 youths were waiting to attend universities closed since
1996.

Meanwhile, the opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,
which won 1990 elections only to be denied power by the generals, was
stronger than ever, he said.

"The junta is feeling jumpy," he said.

Civilian militias were being equipped and trained to counter demonstrators,
while provincial officials were being warned to look out for any signs of
pro-democracy activity.

"These quarters are obviously trying to highlight and attract attention by
fabrication, exaggeration and speculation," a junta spokesman said
yesterday.

"We do not anticipate any unusual happenings on the so-called 9-9-99," he
added, calling the opposition groups "numerically obsessed".