Burma warns Suu Kyi off political activity ahead of tour

[Khun Don]

Burma warns Suu Kyi off political activity ahead of tour
By Deutsche Presse Agentur

Rangoon - Burma's government sent a stern letter to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of her planned tour of the country, reminding her of the illegal status of her party, state media reports said Wednesday.

The move cast a shadow over her plans to visit rural parts of Burma next month for the first time since her release from house arrest in November.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was dissolved in September after failing to register for the November 7 general election, noted the letter addressed to the party's leader and to its chairman, Aung Shwe, from the Home Affairs Ministry.

The NLD boycotted last year's polls to protest election regulations introduced by the military that would have forced it to drop Suu Kyi from the party list to run.

Under the regulations, political parties may not include people serving jail sentences among their members. Suu Kyi was only freed from a seven-year house detention term, her latest sentence, on November 13.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has spent nearly 15 of the past 21 years under house detention, has vowed to tour rural areas of Burma in July.

The last time Suu Kyi and her NLD followers visited the provinces was in 2003. Her convoy was attacked by pro-military thugs, leaving an estimated 19 dead and Suu Kyi injured.

She was arrested and sentenced to house detention for undermining national security.

"We are deeply concerned that if Daw (Madam) Aung San Suu Kyi makes trips to countryside regions, there may be chaos and riots as evidenced by previous incidents," said an editorial carried by the New Light of Myanmar and other state-run dailies.

"Her followers and supporters are gushing that the icon must keep in touch with the public," the editorial said. "They also propagate that the government is responsible for security of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on her trip"

Suu Kyi is seen as the chief threat to the military establishment that has ruled Burma since 1962.

In its letter, the Home Affairs Ministry advised her to cease the NLD's political activities because the country now has an elected government.

"Such acts are not only against the law but also tantamount to opposing the hluttaws (parliaments) at various levels formed with representatives elected in accord with the constitution approved by the entire national people in order to build a peaceful, modern and discipline-flourishing democratic nation and the government elected by those hluttaws," the letter said.

The ministry advised Suu Kyi to apply to set up a "social organisation if they want to engage in social affairs as a team or group."

The NLD won the previous general election in 1990 by a landslide but was blocked from assuming power for two decades by the military.

The November 7 election, labelled a sham by Western democracies, brought to power a government led by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, headed by former general Thein Sein.

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