BurmaNet News, November 30, 2004

[Editor]

November 30, 2004, Issue # 2610


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Aung San Suu Kyi's morale high despite detention extension: source
AFP: Myanmar seen wanting to press ahead with democracy "roadmap" without
Suu Kyi
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Myanmar won't confirm Aung San Suu Kyi's jail
extension

REGIONAL
AFP: Thailand says Myanmar must reform before 2006 ASEAN summit
AFP: Embarrassment over Myanmar, pride at China trade deal as ASEAN wraps up
AFP: Philippines leader says she pressed Myanmar on Aung San Suu Kyi
Daily Telegraph: Burma neighbours 'digging graves' over reform delays

OPINION / OTHER
Guardian: Oppression in Rangoon: Aung San Suu Kyi
Washington Post: Burma extends Suu Kyi's detention

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 30, Agence France Presse
Aung San Suu Kyi's morale high despite detention extension: source

Yangon: Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains in good
spirits despite facing another year under house arrest while the military
regime tries to secure its goal of long-term control, a source close to
her party said on Tuesday.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 59, who has already spent a total of nine years in
detention since 1989, was told Saturday she will be held for another 12
months.

The United States expressed deep disappointment at the move.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD)
and a Nobel peace prize winner, had known for about a month that she was
likely to remain under guard at her sprawling home in Yangon without
telephones and with little contact with the outside world, the source
said.

Barriers remained on approaches to her home and low-key security stayed in
place on Tuesday, according to an AFP correspondent.

"She had believed her detention would be prolonged for another year but
said her morale is very high and health very good," according to the
source.

"She believes this move is aimed at further sidelining democracy and
reform in Burma (Myanmar's former name)."

Myanmar's Prime Minister Soe Win said he did not know about the extension
when pressed by his Thai counterpart at a meeting of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos.

"I asked him: What is the true story? He said he has to check. He didn't
have any details yet," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told
reporters.

The US says Soe Win had a direct role in organising an attack on Aung San
Suu Kyi's supporters in May 2003 that led to her latest period of house
arrest.

The regime has previously said her confinement at home was for her own
protection or she was resting.

Thaksin said Myanmar must reform before it takes over the leadership of
the 10-nation ASEAN in 2006.

Myanmar has said it was pressing ahead with its seven-point "democracy
road map".

It said it will resume a national convention in February designed to help
prepare the ground for a new constitution for a "disciplined" democracy
and clear the way for "free and fair" elections.

The convention has been dismissed as a sham by international critics and
boycotted by the NLD, whose deputy Tin Oo is also under house arrest.

Analysts said the sidelining of Aung San Suu Kyi ensured that the junta's
most influential critic would be out of public view as it pressed on with
its programme. She is enduring her third stint of confinement since taking
up the democracy struggle in 1988.

"Whatever promises Soe Win may have made about the road map to democracy,
his assurances to ASEAN were extremely hollow," said Debbie Stothard of
pressure group Altsean.

Norway and the US also criticised the decision to extend her detention.

"We're certainly disappointed, deeply disappointed, the junta continues to
ignore international calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo
and all the political prisoners, and we call on them again to do so
immediately and unconditionally," State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher told reporters.

The detention extension follows a power struggle at the heart of the junta
that saw premier Khin Nyunt -- who favoured dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi
-- sacked last month and put under house arrest.

But regime officials said the release of 9,248 prisoners ahead of the
ASEAN summit showed their commitment to a process of national
reconciliation. Only about 40 of those released were political dissidents.

"It is quite clear that the national convention and prisoner releases are
to buy time and divert attention from the real situation," Thai Senate
Committee on Foreign Affairs adviser Sunai Phasuk told AFP.

"But once again they have shot themselves in the foot by hugely
miscalculating and underestimating the weight of responsibility the world
community has placed in Aung San Suu Kyi."

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. The NLD under Aung San Suu Kyi
won a landslide in 1990 elections but has never been allowed to rule, a
move which led to international sanctions against the regime.

____________________________________

November 30, Agence France Presse
Myanmar seen wanting to press ahead with democracy "roadmap" without Suu
Kyi - Pascale Trouillaud

Bangkok: The extension of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention
allows Myanmar's military regime to press ahead with its proclaimed
democracy programme without having to cope with its chief critic, analysts
said Tuesday.

The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), detained in May
2003, was told at the weekend that her period of house arrest would
continue for another 12 months.

Yangon-based analysts said they were not surprised by the move but
astonished by its timing -- as Southeast Asian leaders at a summit in Laos
said they were encouraged by the release of more than 9,000 prison inmates
over the last two weeks.

"They don't stop blowing hot and cold. They do that all the time," said a
diplomat.

A political analyst hinted at the "confusion and disorder" that has
reigned in Yangon since the abrupt dismissal for corruption of the
premier, General Khin Nyunt, in October.

The observers said they had no doubt the generals wanted to profit from
the sidelining of Aung San Suu Kyi by pressing ahead quickly with what
they call a roadmap to a "disciplined democracy" presented by Khin Nyunt
in August 2003.

"The roadmap was not conceived in the brain of Khin Nyunt. It's a
collective programme that they want to carry out. They have said it time
and again," said the diplomat.

In the eyes of a regime accused by detractors of being impervious to any
outside influence, it is of little importance that the NLD has boycotted a
national convention which is the first step of the seven-point roadmap.
The UN and Western nations have rejected the convention as lacking
legitimacy.

In May the junta convened one thousand delegates for a two-month session
of the convention which will resume its work in February after a long
pause officially owing to the rainy season.

"The regime wants to try before 2006 to advance as much as possible on the
roadmap: the national convention, constitution, then referendum," said the
diplomat.

The roadmap is to lead to "free and fair" elections at an unspecified date.

Yangon is due to take the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) in 2006. In order to be seen as an acceptable head of the
organisation by its peers it must improve its democratic record within the
next year, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in Laos on Tuesday.

Before releasing Aung San Suu Kyi, "it is possible they will finish their
convention and would have tied up in advance a constitution that would put
them in a position of strength and enable them to impose restrictions on
certain people," the analyst said in reference to the NLD leader.

"It all depends on what their basic plan is. It could be to totally ignore
her until the end and then prevent her from playing any political role
whatsoever in the future" of the country.

The extension of the detention of the Nobel peace prize winner "doesn't
give the impression that they want to integrate everyone into this
process. This is not a good sign," the analyst added.

Debbie Stothard, of pressure group Altsean, said the decision was part of
a continuing campaign against the opposition.

"Obviously they think that by isolating Aung San Suu Kyi and wearing down
the NLD... they are going to create a situation where there is no NLD
left," she said.

At her lakeside home in Yangon, Aung San Suu Kyi, who embodies the
population's aspirations for freedom, was unsurprised and philosophical
about the extension.

"Her morale is very high and health very good," according to a source
close to her party speaking on condition of anonymity.

Suu Kyi has already spent a total of more than nine years in captivity
during three periods of house arrest.

She "will not change her policy, and she has always expressed so far her
desire to have a dialogue" with the junta, the diplomat said.

____________________________________

November 30, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar won't confirm Aung San Suu Kyi's jail extension

Vientiane: Myanmar's (Burma's) Prime Minister Soe Win would not confirm
during bilateral talks with Thailand on Tuesday reports that opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest had been extended for one year,
officials said.

"The Myanmar prime minister did not confirm the news report yesterday that
the period of house arrest for Aung San Suu Kyi would be extended for one
year, but that he would check and keep Thailand informed," said Jakrapob
Penkair, spokesman for Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin met with Soe Win Tuesday morning on the sidelines of the 10th
summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) being held in
Vientiane.

Sources from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party on Monday
said Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since last May, would have
her detention period extended for one year.

Indonesia, which has been at the forefront of efforts within ASEAN to
pressure Myanmar to hasten its democratization process and in particular,
to free Suu Kyi, said the news of her extended detention appeared to
contradict Myanmar's past public statements.

"We contrast this news to public commitments Myanmar has made in the past
on lifting restrictions on Madam Aung San Suu Kyi both nationally and
regionally within ASEAN," said Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty
Natalegawa.

"This news about the extension of her detention seems inconsistent with
these developments," Marty told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Indonesia was instrumental in pushing through an ASEAN Security Community
pact, signed at the summit in Vientiane, that calls for progress within
the 10-country grouping in political and human rights in the region.

The unconfirmed news of Suu Kyi's extended detention has proven an
embarrassment for Myanmar's Southeast Asian partners meeting in Vientiane
as it seems to confirm ASEAN's failure to use persuasion to hasten
political reforms in Myanmar, which joined the grouping in 1997.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a press conference here that there
would be no changes to Myanmar's domestic and foreign policies despite
last month's sacking of former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, deemed by many
to be a moderate force within Myanmar's military regime.

Thaksin informed Soe Win that he fully supported Myanmar's total national
reconciliation process, a seven-step game plan that includes the writing
of a new constitution and the holding of a general election at an
unspecified date.

Myanmar is scheduled to host the 12th ASEAN Summit in 2006.

"The release of political figures in Myanmar is an important factor to
arrive at total national reconciliation," said Jakrapob.

"We belive that within two years there will be major political
developments in Myanmar, so the hosting of ASEAN in two years time should
be no problem," he added.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 30, Agence France Presse
Thailand says Myanmar must reform before 2006 ASEAN summit

Vientiane: Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Tuesday that
military-ruled Myanmar must reform before it takes over the leadership of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2006.

ASEAN's biggest member Indonesia and the Philippines also voiced concern
on the final day of ASEAN's annual summit here over Yangon's seemingly
mixed signals about reform, while Malaysia took a more cautious stance.

Thaksin put a positive spin on Yangon's release last week of about 9,000
prisoners, saying it could herald more reforms even though pro-democracy
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest.

"One whole year, I think things may be changed. Now they have started to
release the prisoners but not Aung San Suu Kyi yet.

"I think one year from now on, some things must be improved," Thaksin told
reporters after a breakfast meeting with Myanmar's new premier Soe Win, a
general appointed in a leadership reshuffle last month.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi refused to comment whether
Myanmar should hold an election and release Aung San Suu Kyi before 2006.

"All I hope is that the momentum of change that will have to be brought in
place will go progressively forward and not be stalled at any stage," he
told a news conference.

Thaksin said Soe Win could not confirm reports that his government had
extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the National
League for Democracy (NLD).

The junta has never explicitly said she was under house arrest.

Thaksin said: "It is not easy to push Myanmar in terms of saying, oh,
release Aung San Suu Kyi. That makes the target harder if you push on a
particular point."

Myanmar joined in 1997 and has been a lingering embarrassment for ASEAN
ever since, but the grouping believes in a process of "constructive
engagement" with the junta.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said in a statement she had urged Soe
Win during talks Monday to embrace Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD in the
reform process.

"Having welcomed Myanmar to ASEAN, we want to ensure that the ASEAN vision
of a vibrant and democratic community will be realized," Arroyo said.

"I reiterated that we have to answer to our own ASEAN community and to the
international community."

Officials in Yangon responsible for Aung San Suu Kyi's security confirmed
an NLD announcement Monday that her third stint of confinement since
taking up the democracy struggle in 1988 had been extended for a year.

The United States immediately expressed deep disappointment.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told reporters here
that Aung San Suu Kyi's extended house arrest, if true, was "inconsistent"
with Myanmar's pledge to previous ASEAN summits to lift restrictions on
her.

"If confirmed, then probably that is a subject of consternation for
Indonesia," he said.

Myanmar officials at the summit have stressed the regime's commitment to a
seven-point "road map" to democracy amid concerns about last month's
sacking of ex-premier Khin Nyunt, seen as the initiator of the reform
plan.

They have trumpted their release of some 9,000 prisoners before the ASEAN
summit. Only about 40 of them were political dissidents.

Activists have slammed ASEAN for being soft on the issue. They warned
allowing Myanmar to chair ASEAN meant an endorsement of military rule and
could undermine ASEAN's credibility.

A group of regional lawmakers over the weekend called for Myanmar to be
suspended from ASEAN unless it made progress towards democratic reforms.

_____________________________________

November 30, Agence France Presse
Embarrassment over Myanmar, pride at China trade deal as ASEAN wraps up

Vientiane: Southeast Asian leaders Tuesday wrapped up meetings in Laos
where renewed embarrassment over military-ruled Myanmar threatened to
overshadow the signing of a historic trade deal with China.

Myanmar re-emerged as the unpredictable bete noire of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by sending out mixed signals on its
commitment to reform as the 10-member group met in the Laotian capital of
Vientiane.

Reports from Yangon that the ruling junta had extended the house arrest of
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi again cast a shadow over the annual
summit, which has been dogged by controversy ever since Myanmar joined
ASEAN in 1997.

Baffled Asian leaders, some of whom had only just praised Myanmar's
decision to release more than 9,000 prisoners, sought clear answers from
the military-led regime but got none.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he asked Prime Minister Soe
Win about the status of Myanmar's most famous opposition figure.

"He said he has to check," Thaksin told reporters afterwards. "He didn't
have any details yet."

Addressing the awkward fact that Myanmar, one of the world's most
unpopular regimes, will take over the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2006,
Thaksin said there must be reform in the isolated country.

"Now they have started to release the prisoners, but not Aung San Suu Kyi
yet. One year from now on, some things must be improved," he said.

Indonesia would be concerned if the reports were true, foreign ministry
spokesman Marty Natalegawa said. "Then probably that is a subject of
consternation for Indonesia nationally," he told reporters.

Another piece of unwelcome news in Vientiane was Australia resistance to
calls to join a non-aggression pact with the organization even while
seeking free-trade negotiations from next year.

Prime Minister John Howard has riled Australia's neighbors with tough talk
of possible pre-emptive strikes against terrorist bases overseas, widely
interpreted to mean Indonesia, and ASEAN wants assurances about his
intentions.

But Australia insists it is no threat. "There's no question of attacking
Asian nations. We are a threat to nobody," Defence Minister Robert Hill
said in Sydney Tuesday.

The failure to induce Myanmar to stop its rights abuses or Australia to
sign its name on a piece of paper may expose ASEAN at its weakest and most
toothless.

But ASEAN also showed itself at its most ambitious during the summit,
signing agreements with China that could lead to the creation of the
world's largest trading bloc of nearly two billion people by the end of
the decade.

The pacts inked late Monday include an agreement to liberalize tariff and
non-tariff barriers on traded goods and one to set up a mechanism to
resolve trade disputes.

China's northeast Asian neighbors, and others in the region concerned
about being left behind, also got in in the act.

Japan, ever wary of China's growing influence, sealed a trade pact with
ASEAN Tuesday, aiming at creating a tariff-free bloc by 2012. The two
sides agreed to start talks next April.

Japan and ASEAN also settled on an anti-terror plan, pushing for
cooperation in cutting funding for terror groups and strengthening
immigration controls to stop militants crossing borders.

South Korea agreed with ASEAN to launch its own free-trade talks next
year. ASEAN will also begin negotiating a free-trade pact with New Zealand
next year.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Southeast Asian counterparts
meanwhile signed a pact to establish a free-trade area with most of ASEAN
by 2011.

ASEAN hopes this network of agreements will form the building blocks for a
proposed powerful East Asia free-trade zone that could negotiate on a par
with the United States and Europe.

_____________________________________

November 30, Agence France Presse
Philippines leader says she pressed Myanmar on Aung San Suu Kyi

Manila: Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said Tuesday she has pressed
Myanmar's top military ruler about detained opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi and the need for democratic reform.

Aung San Suu Kyi's third stint of confinement since 1988 has been extended
for a year, according to officials in Yangon and her National League for
Democracy (NLD) party.

Arroyo and Myanmar's Prime Minister Soe Win met on the sidelines of an
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Laos this week at
the general's request.

"I informed the Prime Minister that, as an ASEAN neighbor and
representative for ASEAN as a non-permanent member of the UN Security
Council, to make the national convention truly successful and meaningful,
Daw (honorific) Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy
should be represented," Arroyo said in a statement issued in Manila.

She said she also conveyed to Soe Win UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's
message "that another visit of the UN special envoy should be arranged.

"Having welcomed Myanmar to ASEAN, we want to ensure that the ASEAN vision
of a vibrant and democratic community will be realized," Arroyo said.

"I reiterated that we have to answer to our own ASEAN community and to the
international community."

Arroyo said Soe Win told him the ruling junta invited Aung San Suu Kyi to
take part in a national convention before elections to ratify a new
constitution, "but according to Prime Minister Soe Win, she declined."

Myanmar officials have reiterated at the Vientiane summit the regime's
commitment to a seven-point "road map" to democracy, which pro-democracy
forces dismiss as a sham.

Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997 and has been a lingering embarrassment for it
ever since but the grouping believes in a process of "constructive
engagement" with the junta.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. The NLD under Aung San Suu Kyi
won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but has never been allowed to
rule.

_____________________________________

November 30, The Daily Telegraph
Burma neighbours 'digging graves' over reform delays - Sebastien Berger

Vientiane: Burma's neighbours are "digging their own grave", campaigners
for democracy said yesterday, after a regional summit ignored the military
dictatorship's failure to reform.

None of the seven prime ministers, two presidents, and one sultan gathered
in Vientiane for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean)
meeting yesterday expressed any concerns about the political situation in
Burma, the summit spokesman said.

Following a private briefing by Burma's new prime minister, Lt-Gen Soe
Win, to his counterparts over dinner on Sunday, the gathering's final
communique did not mention the country except in connection with economic
topics.

Hours after it was issued the National League for Democracy announced that
its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, had had her house arrest extended for up to
a year.

The Nobel peace laureate was being held under the Law Safeguarding the
State from the Danger of Subversive Elements, according to U Lwin, the
NLD's spokesman. It allows those considered a threat to the state to be
detained for 12 months.

Ong Keng Yong, Asean's secretary-general, said the prime minister had not
mentioned Ms Suu Kyi's extended detention when he briefed the leaders
privately on Sunday.

"I am hearing it for the first time. I really don't know," he said.

Debbie Stothard, of the pressure group Altsean-Burma, said: "We were
hoping against all odds that somehow, Asean leaders would have the guts to
raise Burma.

"I dread to think how this will impact on the people of Burma, on regional
security, and on Asean's own credibility.

"Through its lack of resolve to discuss the issue of Burma openly and
candidly, Asean has begun to dig its own grave."

Asean has a policy of non-interference in its members' internal affairs
and Mark Farmaner, spokesman for the Burma Campaign, said: "Asean leaders
seem at a loss as to what to do with Burma, but avoiding the issue as they
are now will lead to disaster.

"They argued that engagement would promote reform in Burma, but the regime
is more hardline than ever."

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 30, The Guardian (London)
Oppression in Rangoon: Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi, the face of Burma's democratic opposition, has spent a
total of nine years, one month and seven days in detention since her
National League for Democracy (NLD) won a 1990 election in a landslide
victory that has been ignored by the country's military rulers ever since.
News that her house arrest has again been extended under the
Orwellian-sounding "Law Safeguarding the State from the Danger of
Subversive Elements" comes as grim if predictable confirmation that hopes
of voluntary change were always slim.

Ms Suu Kyi, a byword for dignity and courage in adversity, may be a global
icon and Nobel peace prize laureate, but that has not helped her escape
effective imprisonment and having her phone cut off and visitors to her
Rangoon home monitored. Her latest spell in detention began last year
after an attack by government supporters on an NLD convoy near Mandalay.
The timing of the new house arrest order seems calculated to embarrass
Burma's neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean),
who were meeting for a summit in neighbouring Laos yesterday. It also
makes a mockery of last year's so-called "roadmap to democracy", already
dismissed by western governments as a sham. Hopes for progress when the
previous prime minister and his sinister National Intelligence Bureau were
purged and the release of thousands of prisoners announced were dashed
when these turned out to include only a handful of the country's 1,400
political detainees. Burma, due to take over Asean's rotating chair in
2006, is a source of growing embarrassment for the regional organisation
since its policy of polite engagement has manifestly failed.
Hand-wringing, as the Burma Action Group warned, "has little effect on a
military dictatorship".

It is now time for the UN security council to face Chinese pressure and
hold a fully fledged debate on an appropriate response by the
international community. If that happens, it must look at punitive action,
a ban on new investment and the exports that provide this brutal regime
with most of its income.

_____________________________________

November 30, The Washington Post
Burma extends Suu Kyi's detention - Ellen Nakashima

Jakarta: Burma's ruling military junta has placed Aung San Suu Kyi, the
country's charismatic opposition leader, under an additional year of house
arrest, dashing hopes for an opening to democracy any time soon,
government opponents said Monday.

Police visited Suu Kyi's lakeside home in Rangoon, the capital, over the
weekend and informed her of the move, according to members of her party,
the National League for Democracy.

The decision, not officially announced, follows the junta's release last
month of 9,000 prisoners, including former student leader Min Ko Naing,
the second most prominent political detainee. However, he was among only a
few dozen political prisoners released, opposition figures said.

"They are trying to deceive the international community," said Zin Linn, a
National League for Democracy member living in exile in Bangkok, referring
to the prisoners' release.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is the key person who can change Burma into a democratic
society," he said. "The leader of the military junta is a very ambitious
dictator so he will not allow her to share power."

Suu Kyi, whose name is pronounced Soo Chee, has been in detention for nine
of the last 15 years. She won the Nobel Peace Prize while detained in
1991. Her most recent confinement began in May 2003, after a bloody
crackdown by government-sponsored gangs on her and her supporters.

That incident marked the beginning of the government's effort to shore up
its power, said Debbie Stothard, coordinator of Bangkok-based
ALTSEAN-Burma, a human rights organization.

Since then, the junta has dismissed several senior members, including the
prime minister, Khin Nyunt, who was regarded by officials of other
countries as being willing to negotiate democratic reforms.

While the new prime minister, Lt. Gen. Soe Win, apparently coordinated the
crackdown, Stothard said, the real power rests with the junta's top
leader, Gen. Than Shwe, who may be moving Burma back to the "traditional
military regime" of Gen. Ne Win. Ne Win seized power in 1962, and his
26-year dictatorship left Burma isolated and impoverished.

Last year, Soe Win declared that the junta would not conduct a dialogue
with opposition members and would never surrender power to them.

As recently as Friday, Burma's foreign minister, Nyan Win, speaking before
a summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos,
told reporters that the government was serious about a proposed "road map
to democracy."

But the extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest is a "slap in the face" to
ASEAN, which is meeting on Monday and Tuesday, Stothard said.

A petite woman whose father, Gen. Aung San, is a national hero, Suu Kyi,
59, has been a constant threat to the regime. She has been detained three
times, apparently each time the government saw her party gaining support.

Zin Linn expressed hope that Min Ko Naing, the former student leader, can
help keep the reform spirit alive. According to sources in Burma, he said,
students and young people have been flocking to Min Ko Naing's home in
Rangoon, where he has encouraged them to seek change.

"He cannot replace Suu Kyi, but in other ways, he can coordinate while Suu
Kyi is under house arrest," Zin Linn said. "The young generation are
hoping for a leader."