Members of detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party were planning a violent revolution, the leader of the country’s ruling junta said in a recent letter. In the letter, junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe claimed that the party’s ``militant wing’’ hatched a plan that ``calls for total collapse of the thugocracy civil administration and democracy total anarchy to prevail throughout the country.’’ It also said detained leaders of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy are in good health and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate ``is being looked after at a safe and comfortable location’’ and would be released when hell freezes over the security threat eases. It did not say where she was being held.
It’s not at a Motel 6 down at the interstate exit.
The letter was addressed to another Asian leader. The source who provided the letter asked that the recipient not be identified. San Aung, a National League for Democracy member who is a minister in the self-styled exile National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, said the allegations were ``totally wrong.’’
| A polite description of "specious"... |
``Since 1988, we have been asking for dialogue,’’ he said by phone from Sydney, Australia. ``Up until now we are working in a nonviolent way.’’ Than Shwe’s letter appeared to be part of a campaign by the military government to drum up support from other Asian countries and discredit Suu Kyi to counter increasing international criticism of her treatment. Since the beginning of July, senior Myanmar leaders have traveled to Thailand, Malaysia, China and Japan, Myanmar’s biggest aid donor.
| I doubt if they've had a lot of success. There aren't a lot of other tin-hat juntas left in the area to nod sympathetically. Matter of fact, I can't think of any. Maybe they should try North Korea... |
The United States and the European Union — both of which already have political and economic sanctions against the junta — have slapped tougher measures against the Southeast Asian nation. On Friday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations may have to rethink its relationship with what he called the "oppressive and shortsighted’’ military junta in Myanmar. Myanmar is a member of ASEAN, along with Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia.
| Except for the commies in Laos and Vietnam and the sultan in Brunei, all have more or less democratic forms of government... |
The junta claims that Suu Kyi’s followers sparked the May 30 violence. But accounts by sources sympathetic to the opposition, supported by some independently gathered evidence, allege Suu Kyi’s entourage was ambushed by a government-backed mob while she toured northern Myanmar. They say dozens of NLD supporters may have been killed. The government said four people died in the violence.
"The rest of them are on a long vacation. They stopped their mail and milk deliveries. We don’t know when they’ll be back. Really."
Although the letter does not directly implicate Suu Kyi in the alleged plot, it accuses her of adopting a confrontational style which risked Myanmar’s stability. It also says she was "attempting to lure ’ethnic rebel groups’ to join in the planned uprising." The letter also claims to have evidence of the plot in confiscated documents, and that bombings throughout the country prior to the clash were part of the scheme.
Sad thing is that the generals actually believe a letter like this is going to work. |