------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: May 29,1996 Issue # 426 Asean countries have taken the view that constructive engagement is the best way to bring about change, I think it is now time to admit that change in the right direction has not taken place. -Aung San Suu Kyi (See SUU KYI SAYS SOFT LINE ON JUNTA A FLOP) HEADLINES: ========== THE NATION:SUU KYI STEPS UP CHALLENGE AGAINST SLORC THE NATION:SLORC HOLDS MASS RALLIES AS NLD CONGRESS ENDS THE NATION:SUU KYI SAYS SOFT LINE ON JUNTA A FLOP BKK POST: KHUN SA'S ASSOCIATES ORDERED TO HALT LOGGING BKK POST: BOMB BLASTS WOUND SEVERAL AT KAREN REFUGEE CAMP UPI : BURMA'S MILITARY JUNTA CRITICIZED VOA : BURMESE REPRESSION VOA: WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL CNN : BURMESE OPPOSITION PROPOSALS STING GOVERNMENT HOUSTON CHRONICLE : SUU KYI TAPES CIRCULATED AUSTRALIA : PROTEST SLAMS BURMA. ISBDA : HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS IN BURMA BESIDES THE NLD MEMBERS PAUL J. WILLIAMSONS : IS IMPOSING ONES VALUES & CONCEPTS ON OTHERS - DEMOCRATIC. LOS ANGELES TIMES : MYANMAR LEADERS DENOUNCE PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS ----------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION: SUU KYI STEPS UP CHALLENGE AGAINST SLORC May 29,1996 AP Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi stepped up her challenge to the Burmese military regime yesterday, announcing plans by the pro- democracy opposition to draft a constitution separate from the one being debated by a government-stacked panel. The declaration on the closing day of an opposition congress opened a new front against the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) and signalled that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy would not return to the constitutional conference it walked out of last November. The three-day party conference marked the biggest step against the junta for Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent promotion of democracy, since she was released from six years of house arrest last July. Taking her battle into the constitutional arena would allow Suu Kyi a long-term vehicle to build on the victory she scored over the weekend by defiantly carrying on with the congress despite the arrest of 238 delegates and 24 party members. An opposition-drafted constitution _ even with no means of enforcing it _ would provide Burma's people with a clear contrast between s system emphasising democracy and human rights versus one weighted toward a paramount military. Asked how ordinary Burmese, armed only with courage, could prevail against the military, Suu Kyi replied, "That's exactly why there will be change, because all they have is guns. They regard everything we do as confrontational, but there's nothing in the law that says you have no right to draft a constitution." With Burmese music playing in the background, Suu Kyi closed the session by reading resolutions adopted by the 18 conference delegates who eluded arrest. The resolutions demanded the immediate release of all the detainees by Slorc. The resolutions called for the sitting of Parliament, a dialogue with the junta and said only elected representatives should sit in Parliament, with the military under civilian control. The resolutions stated that the military was "a necessary institution" that should become an "honourable" one by sticking to national defence and helping bring about democracy. (TN) *************** THE NATION: SLORC HOLDS MASS RALLIES AS NLD CONGRESS ENDS May 29,1996 Agencies As pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi prepared to wrap up an arrest-depleted opposition congress yesterday, Burma's military junta staged mass rallies of government employees in a bid to demonstrate popular support. The ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) also stepped up its denunciation of Suu Kyi and said some 100,000 people had turned out in rallies across the country in support of the regime. Government sound-trucks cruised the streets of poor Rangoon neighbourhoods on Monday night, urging people to turn out early yesterday to a rally at a playground. Similar rallies were expected to be held in other parts of the country. The rallies tried to counter perceptions of public support for Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD), which closed a dramatic three-day congress yesterday by adopting resolutions which included a call for Slorc to free the more than 260 NLD MPs and members who were arrested and detained since last Monday. The congress marked the sixth anniversary of the May 1990 general elections in which the NLD won 392 of 485 seats. It posed a symbolic challenge to Slorc, which refused to honour the vote. The meeting was to bring together the winning candidates not already killed, jailed or driven into exile. Only 18 delegates eluded arrest and were able to attend the meeting. Though the regime detained 238 delegates and 24 other party supporters to derail the meeting, Suu Kyi scored a triumph on Sunday by pledging in her opening speech to step up opposition activities and hold more congresses. Suu Kyi implicitly dared the regime to crack down again and reap a new whirlwind of international condemnation that has thrown a negative spotlight on its attempts to crush dissent while quietly cutting deals with international corporations. The speech marked the most defiant challenge yet offered by Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, since her release from six years of house arrest last July. State controlled newspapers reported yesterday that 90,000 people _ far higher numbers than visible on government television reports _ attended government-orchestrated rallies to denounce the opposition as "destructionists" bent on causing anarchy. They added that mass rallies have been held in various areas including Rangoon since Monday. The media, however, has not mentioned the NLD congress. The newspapers said rallies had taken place in Dagon township in Rangoon and in Pegu, 80 kilometres north of Rangoon. Speaking at the Dagon rally on Monday, Kaung Nyunt, chairman of the rally, praised Slorc's achievements in social, economic and security sectors and said progress has also been made in reconciliation with armed groups in the jungle and in development of border areas. Kaung Nyunt said the "destructionists" under foreign sponsorship were trying to disrupt developments in the country and also called for the annihilation of such groups that were trying to bring the country back into anarchy. The rally then passed a resolution supporting the government's development works and condemning the "distructionists". Similar resolutions were passed other rallies as well. Suu Kyi said that both rallies were organised by the authorities, and said their messages were "awash with hatred and vindictiveness ". Most in attendance at the rallies were state employees. Their glum faces and polite clapping contrasted with the cheers and chants Suu Kyi drew on Sunday when 10,000 ordinary Burmese braved pervasive fear of the secret police to hear her speak outside her home. The size of that crowd _ four times larger than usual for her weekend addresses _ marked a swell in overt support. Far more of Rangoon's 4 million people heard her on clandestine tapes, and many expressed approval. Suu Kyi predicted on Monday that the regime would detain some of her jailed supporters indefinitely and said her personal assistant, Win Htein, had been thrown into Insein Prison near Rangoon, notorious for torture. Some of the delegates had apparently been charged with violating emergency powers laws, which give the military authority to hold a detainee indefinitely for reasons of national security, she said. The location of the detainees is unknown. The regime claimed last week that they were only being "questioned ... as guests of the government". None are known to have been released. The crackdown brought new criticism of foreign companies eager to profit by helping the junta develop Burma's economy, destroyed during nearly 34 years of military rule. The newspaper quoted organisers as saying that unidentified "minions ... with foreign masters" were trying to destabilise the country and destroy the government's development efforts. The organisers urged the Burmese people to "unitedly crush destructionists ... who are trying to destabilise the nation and create riots under the influence of foreign masters". (TN) *************** THE NATION: SUU KYI SAYS SOFT LINE ON JUNTA A FLOP May 29,1996 Agencies Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday that a wave of detentions of pro-democracy activists pointed to the failure of the soft-line approaches to the junta taken by neighbouring countries. "Asean countries have taken the view that constructive engagement is the best way to bring about change," she said at her lakeside compound. "I think it is now time to admit that change in the right direction has not taken place," she said. Despite Western pressure to isolate Burma, Asean has adopted the policy of constructive engagement based on the idea that gradually drawing Burma into the international fold was the best way of bringing about democratic reform. At least 262 activists of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested and detained since last Monday in the run up to one of the most important pro-democracy meetings since the abortive 1990 elections in a measure the junta said was taken to prevent a breakdown of law and order. Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate, said the situation in Burma also represented a threat to stability in other countries, making it all the more necessary for foreign governments to exert pressure on the junta. "We believe threats to justice anywhere and threats to justice everywhere and as long as there is injustice and instability in Burma, it will constitute a threat to justice and stability in the whole region," she said. The Asean countries _ Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam _ have tried to avoid any comments on the internal affairs of other countries. But the Philippines yesterday became the second Asean country after Thailand to express concern about the political situation in Burma. In a press statement, the Philippine Foreign Department called for restraint by both the junta and the opposition forces, warning that a showdown could undermine stability in Southeast Asia. Manila urged both sides to "step up their efforts at national reconciliation in order to avoid the already tense situation from destabilising the situation in Myanmar [Burma]." The statement "also expressed concern over its possible disruptive effect on the peace and stability in the Southeast Asian region." In an interview with Singapore television on Monday, Suu Kyi likened her country to the Philippines under late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The Philippine statement, however, went with the official line of the ruling Burmese State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) that the detained NLD members were only "invited by the government for questioning." In Jakarta, Asean Secretary-General Ajit Singh said yesterday that officials were discussing the timing of a visit Burma had invited him to pay to Rangoon. "The government of Myanmar [Burma] has invited me to pay an official visit to Yangon [Rangoon]. We are currently working out the details," he told an Indonesian Executive Circle lunch of diplomats and business leaders. The Asean chief executive later said he expected to make the trip "In the latter part of the year". An Asean official said the Burmese government had extended the invitation last year. Singh declined to comment on the current confrontation in Burma other than to say: "As far as Asean is concerned, we do not interfere in each other's internal affairs ... that is a basic tenet of Asean." He said Burma was expected to get observer status in the 19-nation Asean Regional Forum (ARF) _ set up to promote regional security _ at a ministerial meeting in Jakarta in July. (TN) *************** BKK POST: KHUN SA'S ASSOCIATES ORDERED TO HALT LOGGING May 29,1996 The Burmese government has ordered associates of drug warlord Khun Sa to cease logging operations in Ho Mong, according to a source in the Mong Tai Army. The Slorc has also told them to stop trading in lumber directly with Thai businessmen, the source said. Slorc Second Secretary-General Gen Tin Oo and Trade Minister Lt- Gen Tun Kyi visited the former MTA headquarters on May 21-24, a source in Ho Mong said. After talks with Khun Sa's son Chao Cham Huang, they ordered MTA members to wind up their logging business. The Burmese junta is thought to have formed the view that it had not getting any benefit from the sale of logs by MTA people to Thai merchants. They must sell all existing logs to the Burmese government. (BP) *************** BKK POST: BOMB BLASTS WOUND SEVERAL AT KAREN REFUGEE CAMP May 29,1996 Several Karen National Union refugees were wounded in explosions on Monday night after a group of Karen troops planted four bombs at a refugee camp. A woman identified as Pho Phu was seriously injured. She and a number of children were taken to Mae Sariang Hospital. The blasts went off at Ban Mae Kong Kha camp in Tambon Mae Yuam, Mae Sariang at 8.p.m. on Monday. The Karen soldiers are thought to have entered Thailand illegally and to be members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. DKBA troops often cross the Salween river to look for food supplies in Mae Hong Son. On the other hand, the attack may have been the result of clashes between the bandits and certain KNU refugees. Songkhram Sirisrisakul, a security volunteer in the camp, said the explosions occurred while some 5,000 KNU refugees were performing religious rites. Mae Hong Son Governor Somjate Viriyadamrong said the authorities were investigating the incident. Mr Somjate has ordered border officials in Mae Sariang and Sop Moei districts to watch out for illegal entries or exits. (BP) *************** BURMA'S MILITARY JUNTA CRITICIZED WASHINGTON, May 28 (UPI) - The Washington post commented editorially on Burma's authoritarian military junta Tuesday, saying: "The thuggish military men who rule Burma have rounded up more than 200 democracy activists who were planning to meet last weekend. Again the rulers show their regime, which goes by the appropriately unappetizing acronym SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council), to be worthy only of international contempt. "To the extent that Americans are at all familiar with Burma's plight, it is thanks to the courage of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the nation's democracy movement. Her National League for Democracy won an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections in 1990, but SLORC refused to give up power, putting her under house arrest and jailing many of her colleagues. "Although Aung San Suu Kyi was nominally freed last July, after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the regime has refused even to begin talks on a transition to democratic rule. "It was to celebrate, as it were, the sixth anniversary of those betrayed elections that Aung San Suu Kyi called a meeting. In fear of the democrats' popularity, SLORC rounded up many of her supporters, including should-be members of parliament. "This is far from SLORC's only abuse. Even before the latest events, hundreds of political prisoners remained in jail, according to Human Rights Watch/Asia. "The regime promotes forced labor, press-ganging citizens to act as porters in areas of armed conflict and to build roads, according to the U.S. State Department. It has built a massive army, equipped mostly by China. And Burma is the world's chief source of heroin. "The United States already has barred official aid or government loans to Burma and has influenced the World Bank and other multilateral organizations to follow suit. Now Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky wants to bar private investment as well, a step supported by many of Burma's democrats. "U.S. firms are the third-largest investors, McConnell said, led by Unocal Corp., which is helping develop Burma's natural-gas fields. The structure of the dictatorship ensures that much of the benefit of foreign investment goes into the generals' pockets. "The most active proponents of trade, investment and engagement with Burma have been its neighbors in Southeast Asia. A nation of 42 million with high literacy rates and abundant natural resources, Burma cannot be ignored. But after SLORC's latest abuses, the burden is on those advocates of "engagement" to show what they have achieved and explain why sanctions should not be tightened. "As much as South Africa under apartheid, Burma deserves to be a pariah until SLORC has given way." Copyright 1996 United Press International. All rights reserved. ****************************************************** BURMESE REPRESSION content=this is the second of two editorials being released for broadcast may 29, 1996. anncr: The voice of america presents differing points of view on a wide variety of issues. next, an editorial expressing the policies of the united states government. Voice: This month marks the sixth anniversary of the general election in which the people of Burma voted overwhelmingly for an end to military rule and the establishment of a democratic civilian government. Because of increased repression by the burmese military regime, this goal now seems more distant than ever. For six years, Burma's military junta has prevented those elected in may 1990 from assuming office. In an effort to deflect popular unrest and international pressure, the junta released some political prisoners last year and freed democracy leader aung san suu kyi from house arrest. This past week, over two-hundred members of the National League for Democracy party were detained. Most of them had been elected to the unseated Burmese parliament. The mass arrests were part of the military junta's attempt to block a political conference of the National League for Democracy called by Aung San Suu Kyi. The united states condemns efforts by the Burmese junta, known as the State law and order restoration council, or Slorc, to prevent the citizens of Burma from exercising their basic political rights. Because of concern about the actions of slorc and the potential for violence, Americans have been warned to curtail nonessential travel to burma. The u.s. calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Burma and renews its call for a dialogue between the Burmese authorities and democratic opposition leaders and representatives of the country's ethnic groups. it is the only path to a solution of burma's crisis. anncr: that was an editorial expressing the policies of the united states government. if you would like to be heard on this issue, please write to editorials, voice of america, washington, d-c, 20547, u-s-a. you may also send us a fax at (202)619-1043. your comments may be used on the air. ********************************************* VOA: WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL May 28, 1996 Text: The washington post, meanwhile, is eyeing the latest crackdown on political activism in burma, noting: Voice: "The thuggish military men who rule Burma have now rounded up more than 200 democracy activists who were planning to meet last weekend. Again they show their regime, which goes by the appropriately unappetizing acronym Slorc (State law and order restoration council), to be worthy only of international contempt. [opt] ..... Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the Nation's democracy movement ..... won an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections in 1990, but slorc refused to give up power, putting her under house arrest and jailing many of her colleagues. ..... it was to celebrate, as it were, the sixth anniversary of those betrayed elections that Aung San Suu Kyi called a meeting. In fear of the democrats' popularity, Slorc rounded up many of her supporters, including should-be members of parliament. ..... after Slorc's latest abuses, the burden is on those advocates of 'engagement' to show what they have achieved and explain why sanctions should not be tightened. As much as south Africa under Apartheid, Burma deserves to be a pariah until Slorc has given way. " [end opt] ******************************************** BURMESE OPPOSITION PROPOSALS STING GOVERNMENT Tue, 28 May 1996 12:26:28 -0800 John Scherb < CNN News Briefs 5/28 > RANGOON, Burma (CNN) -- Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy approved several proposals sure to enrage the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council as the opposition party wrapped up a controversial meeting Tuesday. Delegates to the three-day congress voted to let senior members draw up a draft constitution and proposed a constitutional conference representing the Burmese people. The NLD pulled out of government-sponsored constitutional talks last November, angering the council. Suu Kyi said the NLD wants any future government to be ruled by an elected parliament, with the armed forces taking a limited role. The current constitution calls for the military to have a leading role. The NLD also seeks the release of all political prisoners in government custody. ******************************************* SUU KYI TAPES CIRCULATED Houston Chronicle 5/28 (John Scherb ) RANGOON, Burma -- When pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi denounced Burma's ruling junta and vowed to fight it, millions of Burmese too frightened to attend the speech listened to tape recordings distributed by her supporters. The junta will not permit publication of Suu Kyi's speeches so her supporters spread the word. As many as 10,000 people appeared outside Suu Kyi's home Sunday for her weekly speech -- the largest crowd since her release last July from six years of house arrest -- and dozens of them held as many as six cassette recorders. The tapes made it around Rangoon by Monday morning, and others should reach the countryside in a few days. Tapes also reached the desks of the State Law and Order Restoration Council. On Monday, the state-controlled press called Suu Kyi a "maggot" and a tool of a U.S. conspiracy to colonize Burma by introducing democracy and human rights. *********************************************** PROTEST SLAMS BURMA. May 28, 1996. Protest slams Burma ------------------- In Melbourne, Burmese Students went on a march through the city streets yesterday demanding sanctions be imposed on the military regime in their homeland. The students chanted "Democracy for Burma" as they stormed to the steps of Parliament as part of a national day of protest. They called on international leaders to impose trade sanctions and a world-wide arms embargo on Burma. They attacked the military-backed State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) which clings to power in Burma despite widespread dissent. The All Burma Students' Democratic Organization (ABSDO) in Australia has written to Australian Prime Minister John Howard asking for support, including "discouraging trade" and closing the Austrade office in Rangoon. ------------------------------------ In Canberra, more than 100 protester called on the Federal Government to impose trade and economic sanctions on Burma. In a rally outside the Burmese Embassy, the protesters said Australia should take the lead by lobbying other countries to also impose sanctions. One man was taken into police custody during the protest. Meanwhile, in Rangoon the military rulers denounced pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers as "dupes" and "maggots" after she defiantly opened an opposition congress despite the arrest of hundreds of people. The opposition claimed an unknown number of the 262 people detained last week have been transferred to the notorious Insein Prison. (Herald Sun, 28.05.96) *************************************** HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS IN BURMA BESIDES THE NLD MEMBERS Released by ISBDA on May 27, 1996. A Rangoon University teacher said that about 200 student activists have been arrested by the authorities during the current crackdown against the democratic forces of Burma. As these students are not the members of NLD, the number of recent detainees reaches to at least a total of five hundred. On May 24, two young monks were arrested in public because they were holding pro-democracy placards at a bus-stop nearby Sule Pagoda. Many of the NLD MPs and other detainees including monks were already transferred to Insein Jail. Eyewitness could not identify the detainees because their faces were covered by blankets. Meanwhile, a rumor spreads in Rangoon that a violent clash broke out between some students from Medical College No. 2 and a group of heavily drunk SLORC soldiers at N. Okkalapa town. *************************************** SLORC spokesman defends Brookes on soc.culture.burma From: ingameeik@aol.com (Inga Meeik) Reply-To: ingameeik@aol.com (Inga Meeik) Newsgroups: soc.culture.burma Subject: Is Imposing Ones Values & Concepts on Others - Democratic Date: 23 May 1996 07:25:55 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Message-ID: <4o1i03$87p@newsbf02.news.aol.com> IS IMPOSING ONES VALUES & CONCEPTS ON OTHERS - DEMOCRATIC. Paul J. Williamsons (Hong Kong) I have been going Through some of the articles in the internet regarding ASIAN countries and Myanmar also came to my interest because my frequent travels in the region made me realize that something is not right or in another words something is very wrong regarding Myanmar. When I read Mr. Stephen Brookes' article on Myanmar and his candid comment an NLD and her leadership I cannot but admire him for his sincerity and straight forwardness which is rare characteristic in today's media world. I also knew that he would be attacked and into giving up his belief intimidated by those extremist who refuses the facts because it goes against their interest. Well, My prediction came true and I now read in the internet articles branding Mr. Brookes with various names. To be on the more objective side, who are these guys and what right do they have to impose their beliefs and concepts on other people. The sincere, straight forward and unbiased people have the every right to say white when they see white, brown when they see brown not something that will satisfy the extremists. The ed communication systems at work nothing can be kept in the dark for long. In addition to that Myanmar has opened it doors to the outside world and the people who go in to visit the country are not illiterates. They can judge the situation by themselves without anybody's so called assistance or intimidation. My colleagues and I now come to realize that the dyke which prevents facts from reaching the outside world has now beginning to show cracks and in a short period of time it will be broken beyond repair. No wonder the extremists are undermining the Visit Myanmar Year 1996, with all out strength. Maybe they may still say that all the thousands of tourist which visited Myanmar during the visit Myanmar year were misled by the Myanmar Government. In my conclusion I would also like to humbly present my views on the usage of the internet. I believe it should be used for the exchange of information which is beneficial to all users. But regretfully, this system today is being used as a political platform where are user attacks the other. Worst of all, all other users who have installed the system to exchange information of class have to also take the trash. ************************************************ THE NLD CONGRESS RESOLUTION URGED SLORC TO TALK By AYE AYE WIN Associated Press Writer RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ended a daring meeting of pro-democracy forces Tuesday by urging Burma's military regime to honor the results of a 1990 election and return the country to civilian rule. Taking the challenge to Burma's ruling junta a step further, Suu Kyi announced opposition plans to draft an alternate constitution to one being drafted by a government-stacked panel. An opposition-drafted constitution -- even while unenforceable -- would provide Burma's people with a clear contrast between a system emphasizing democracy and human rights versus one weighted toward a paramount military. "They regard everything we do as confrontational," Suu Kyi told reporters, referring to the government. "But there's nothing in the law that says you have no right to draft a constitution." The three-day meeting, which opened on the sixth anniversary of the 1990 parliamentary election, posed a symbolic challenge to the legitimacy of the junta, which arrested 238 of the delegates in a nationwide roundup last week. Only 18 eluded arrest and attended. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma, appealed to the military Tuesday to free the detained delegates. The delegates were opposition candidates who competed in the May 27, 1990 parliamentary elections that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won by a landslide. The junta refused to let the parliament convene. Suu Kyi pledged in her opening speech Sunday to step up opposition activities and hold more conferences -- implicitly daring the regime to crack down again and risk a new round of international condemnation. Reading the congress' resolutions to reporters Tuesday, Suu Kyi also urged the government to open a dialogue with the opposition and said the powerful military should be subject to control by a civilian parliament. Offering an olive branch to the military, the resolutions stated that the armed forces were "a necessary institution in this country and we endorse the view that the armed forces should be an honorable institution which will take care of the defense of the nation and help bring about democracy." Burmese music played as Suu Kyi walked to the podium to read the resolutions before about 200 supporters under a specially built bamboo-and-thatch meeting hall draped with the fighting peacock banners of her National League for Democracy. The meeting was the most important gathering of opposition activists since Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent promotion of democracy, was freed from six years of house arrest in July. Newspapers reported Tuesday that 90,000 people -- far higher numbers than visible on state-run television reports -- attended government-orchestrated rallies in Rangoon on Monday to denounce the opposition as "destructionists" bent on causing anarchy. Banners at the pro-government rallies bore slogans such as: "Those who create disturbances are our enemies. Those who destroy law and order are our enemies. Those who let themselves be used by foreigners are our enemies." The junta's reaction to the meeting has swung between calling Suu Kyi a "maggot" and politely but firmly refusing any dialogue with her. The tone is harsher in the English-language press, with the apparent aim of countering foreign criticism of the regime. ******************************************* MYANMAR LEADERS DENOUNCE PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS >From Associted Press Los Angeles Times, May 28, 1996. YANGON, Myanmar-- This nation's military rulers denounced pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers as dupes and "maggots" for going ahead with the most important opposition meeting since the junta quashed 1990 elections. The regime has arrested 238 conference delegates and 24 other party members to try to block Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy from opening its three-day conference Sunday. But even though only 18 delegates made it, the meeting has proceeded as scheduled. Suu Kyi and her followers said Monday that an Unknown number of the activists recently arrested were transferred to a prison nortorious for torture. In published remarks Monday, junta leader Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt denounced the meeting and accused the opposition of falling prey to the United States and other Western nations that he claims seek to colonize Myanmar, formerly called Burma. The conference's ultimate objective is to get Burma's military rulers to accept the results of 1990 parliamentary elections that Suu Kyi's party overwhelmingly won. ------------------------------------ BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST BurmaNet regularly receives enquiries on a number of different topics related to Burma. 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