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Opposition calls for reopening of M



Opposition calls for reopening of Myanmar universities 

AFP Yangon, 2 December 1999. The youth of Myanmar are facing a bleak 
future, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) warned 
Thursday, calling for the reopening of universities closed three years ago. 

The NLD, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said while the 
junta closed most universities in 1996 amid fears of a pro-democracy student 
revolt, military-run institutes remained open. 

"The fact that the military is providing selective education is a matter of 
grave concern for the nation's future," said an NLD statement issued at 
a ceremony marking Myanmar's National Day. 

The NLD accused the junta of trying to create an exclusive ruling class 
by sending children of the rich and powerful to be educated abroad, 
while students in general faced an uncertain future. 

"We therefore urge all classes of people including the military as 
well as the nationalities to work for the unconditional reopening of all 
universities as we approach the next millennium," the statement said. 

National Day commemorates a student boycott 79 years ago in protest at 
restrictive university regulations imposed by the then British colonial
rulers. 

Meanwhile, junta leader Senior General Than Shwe issued a National Day 
statement calling on the public to crush "neo-colonialists ... wearing the 
cloaks of human rights and democracy." 

"The national people ... must with full patriotism and union spirit, oppose, 
condemn and crush neo-colonialists and internal axe-handles subservient 
to external elements," said the statement. 

Aung San Suu Kyi is often lambasted as an "axe-handle" in the official press, 
a reference to the government's view of her as a tool of foreign powers keen 
to destabilise Myanmar. 

The NLD won an overwhelming victory in a 1990 general election never 
recognised by the military. 

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