- Title: BURMA/ THAILAND: NLD LEADER AUNG SAN SUU KYI ADDRESSES CROWD
- Date: 26th May 1996
- Summary: RANGOON, BURMA/BANKOK, THAILAND (MAY 26-27, 1996) (REUTERS TELEVISION - ACCESS ALL) RANGOON, BURMA (MAY 26, 1996)(ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SV CROWD SITTING IN FRONT OF NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY (NLD) LEADER AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S HOUSE/ PEOPLE CLAPPING HANDS (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. LV/SV CROWD CHEERING/ CLAPPING HANDS / SUU KYI SPEAKING TO CROWD (BURMESE) AND CROWD RESPONDING (5 SHOTS) 0.48 3. SV SUU KYI AT NEWS CONFERENCE/ MEDIA (2 SHOTS) 1.01 4. SCU SUU KYI SPEAKING (ENGLISH)/ CUTAWAYS OF CONFERENCE (4 SHOTS) 1.41 BANKOK, THAILAND (MAY 27, 1996) 5. LV/SV PROTESTERS MARCHING IN STREET WITH BANNERS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF SUU KYI (3 SHOTS) 2.05 6. SV PROTESTERS GATHERED OUTSIDE BURMESE EMBASSY (2 SHOTS) 2.17 7. LV TRAFFIC GOING PAST PROTESTORS 2.26 SEQUENCE 4 TRANSCRIPT: SUU KYI: "OUR PARTY WORK MUST INCREASE IN MOMENTUM, WE NEED TO DO MORE, WE NEED TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO MORE. WE HAVE TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES TO DO MORE AS A POLITICAL PARTY, TO OPERATE AS A POLITICAL PARTY. WE HAVE NOW DECIDED THAT THIS IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST OF THE SERIES OF PARTY CONGRESSES. AND WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT, WE SHALL CERTAINLY HAVE A CONGRESS OF THE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES AS WELL." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 10th June 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RANGOON, BURMA AND BANGKOK, THAILAND
- City:
- Country: Burma (Myanmar)
- Reuters ID: LVA3F3Q1U4H9Q9Q8VKVVR1NMMMFD
- Story Text: INTRO: A reinvigorated Burmese opposition has vowed to increase the pace of its struggle for democracy as thousands turned out to support it on the first day of a controversial party meeting.
Ebullient National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi told a cheering crowd of about 10,000 people outside her Rangoon home on Sunday (May 26) that the party would not bend to pressure from the military government, but would push ahead towards its goal of democracy for Burma.
Suu Kyi spoke after the first day of a three-day party meeting which the ruling military-led State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) tried to scuttle by arresting most of the elected politicians due to attend.
Instead of being cowed by 258 arrests, including 238 elected NLD representatives, Suu Kyi announced at the opening ceremony that the meeting was only the first in a series of party gatherings to chart the course of their campaign.
She told a news conference later the party hoped to hold a meeting of all the NLD members elected in the May 27, 1990, polls, once they were freed from detention.
"We have now decided that this is going to be the first of the series of Party congresses, and when the time is right we shall certainly have a congress of elected representatives as well," said Suu Kyi.
The SLORC says it has not arrested NLD activists but only detained them for questioning in order to avoid "anarchy".
Most Southeast Asian states have kept an official silence on Burma's crackdown in contrast to protests voiced by the United States, Britain, Australia and Japan.
Suu Kyi, 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent campaign, has stressed patience and moderation since her release in July from six years' house arrest.
She said the campaign must now be stepped up, although that decision was not made to test the SLORC's tolerance.
The NLD was co-founded by Suu Kyi just days after the SLORC finally crushed a 1988 uprising against military rule in which thousands were killed or imprisoned.
The party went on to sweep 82 percent of the 485 seats up for grabs in the 1990 poll which was called by the miitary government.
But the SLORC never recognised the election outcome and instead launched a major crackdown against the opposition.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok on Monday (May 27), Burmese students marched outside their embassy demanding a return to democracy to Thailand's western neighbour.
At a press conference in Bangkok, Vice Chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Burma, Tin Maung Win called on governments and international organisations around the world to "keep a close watch on the current developments in Burma ... and to suspend relations and aid to the SLORC until or unless the SLORC undertake genuine political change for freedom and democracy."
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