Suu Kyi ridicules Burma's pro-government rallies

Activist wants military to defend democracy

May 29, 1996
Web posted at: 6:40 p.m. EDT (2240 GMT)

RANGOON, Burma (CNN) -- Burma's military government organized another mass rally Wednesday to denounce Aung San Suu Kyi's revitalized democracy movement, but the opposition leader dismissed the gathering as a farce.

Speakers at the rally in Rangoon, the capital, accused Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy supporters of being traitors bent on destabilizing Burma.

Wednesday's rally, along with earlier pro-government gatherings, are part of a war of words the government is waging against Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

Despite the arrest of 261 party activists, the NLD went ahead with a three-day meeting of senior party members that ended Tuesday. Afterward, Suu Kyi said the NLD would draft an alternative constitution for Burma, giving the military a limited role for defending democratic principles.

Under current law, meetings of more than five people in a public place are prohibited without government permission.

Rallies a 'farce'

"They stop us from organizing a simple . . . ceremony on the grounds it will upset public order, so why have they allowed these (pro-government) people to hold public rallies?" Suu Kyi asked. "Of course they are all bused in, forced to come . . . It's a blatant piece of comedy, it's a farce."

Burma's government-run newspapers, which have denounced the pro-democracy movement, claim tens of thousands of people have attended pro-government rallies. However, the number seen on official television was far fewer.

An official of Burma's information ministry said other rallies would be held to show support for government programs and to denounce recent actions by the democracy movement.

Suu Kyi won the Nobel peace prize in 1991 for her efforts against the military regime.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Burmese opposition proposals sting government - May 28, 1996
• Suu Kyi addresses 5,000 in Burma - May 25, 1996

Related sites:

• Burma (CIA World Fact Book)
• The Nobel Foundation

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