Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 5 Jan 1993 01:29:25 PST
From:         Coban Tun <tun@QUARK.SFSU.EDU>
Subject:      Burma celebrates 45 years of independence???

My comment -

It depends on who is doing the celebration of "independence". Certainly,
burmese population is NOT. Neither is Aung San Suu Kyi who is still in
her 4th year of house-arrest.

Coban Tun
            -----------------------------------------------
Executive News Svc.($)

UPn  01/04 0732  Burma celebrates 45th anniversary of independence

   RANGOON, Burma (UPI) -- The military junta, seeking to whip up patriotic
fervor ahead of a convention to draw up a controversial new constitution,
Monday called on Burmese to "oppose colonialists and their minions" and "ensure
perpetuity of the state."
   In a message marking the 45th anniversary of Burma's independence from
Britain, Gen. Tan Shwe, head of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), reminded the people of the "avaricious British imperialists"
who colonized the country and "turned it into servitude."
   Official observance of the anniversary Monday began with a solemn
flag-raising ceremony in Rangoon's "People's Square" at 4:20 a.m., the time when
Burma officially became independent on Jan. 4, 1948 after decades of British
rule.
   The ceremony was presided over by Maj. Gen. Myo Nyunt, Rangoon Division
military chief and a member of SLORC.
   In his message, Gen. Shwe called on Burmese to "oppose colonialists and
neo-colonialists and their minions and lackeys" to ensure the  "perpetuity of
the state and public well-being."
   Referring to "multi-colored insurgents" operating in the country for the
past 45 years, he they had refused to "abandon their self- interest" despite
several attempts by the government.
   He said insurgent groups had also ignored invitations to take part in the
forthcoming national convention, which he said SLORC has convened in part with
the aim of "re-forging" solidarity in the country. Burma has 135 ethnic
groups, including the majority Burmese.
   The national convention, scheduled to open in Rangoon on Jan. 9, is to lay
the guidelines for a new constitution that is supposed to allow for a more
democratic government. However, SLORC has ordered that the constitution must
ensure the "leading role" of the armed forces in politics.
   Burma's jungle-based parallel government has described the convention as
"simply a maneuver by SLORC to realize its earnest hope to cling to power
while attaining a semblance of legitimacy in the eyes of the international
community."
   The regime in recent weeks has sought to counter opposition to the
convention by stirring up nationalist feelings among the people.
   State-run Radio Rangoon recently warned of "resentful elements" who are
"colluding and scheming with overt and underground destructive elements to
undermine the national convention."
   SLORC took power in September 1988 and then brutally suppressed pro-
democracy protests that began several months earlier.
   Elections in May, 1990 were won overwhelmingly by the opposition National
League for Democracy, despite the detention a year earlier of NLD leader Aung
Sang Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
   Gen. Shwe replaced ailing SLORC chairman Gen. Saw Maung last April, and the
regime has since launched a campaign aimed at improving its international
image.
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