Demand for Suu Kyi’s release – ‘nonsense and unreasonable’: State-run newspaper
by Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The demand to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners is “nonsense and unreasonable,” said Burma’s state-run newspaper the ‘New Light of Myanmar’ in its issues published today and yesterday.
The regime’s stance published in the newspaper is in opposition to the views of the ‘National League for Democracy’ (NLD), the UN Secretary General, the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) and the US.
The government has said many times that there are no political prisoners in Myanmar, the writer ‘Lu Thit’ said in his article.
The UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon visited Burma on July 3 and 4 and called for releasing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners during his visit.
The ASEAN on its part issued a statement calling for the release of political prisoners at the regional forum held in Phuket, Thailand.
Meanwhile the US Secretary of State Ms. Hillary Clinton has said that US-Burma relations will be severely affected unless Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is released.
But the state-run ‘New Light of Myanmar’ says, ‘They are, indeed, the ones who are serving their terms in accordance with the law for their harming stability and peace of the State, and committing other crimes, breaching the existing laws’.
The newspaper further alleges that the demand made by NLD for reviewing the 2008 constitution through dialogue is nothing but their efforts to disrupt and delay the seven-step roadmap being pursued by the junta at any cost.
The NLD General Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is facing trial under section 22 of the ‘Law Safeguarding the State from the danger of Subversive Elements’ and is charged for flouting the terms of her internment order after the US national John William Yettaw intruded into her lakeside residence.
The final argument from both sides - the prosecution and the defence was slated for today but the trial was adjourned.
The NLD registered a landslide victory in 1990 general elections but the junta refused to hand over power.
The NLD has repeatedly asked that the 1990 general election results be recognized to avoid bad precedence in Burmese politics.
But the newspaper said yesterday and today that the 1990 general elections result is out of date, null and void. The people will not look back at the results, as it is out of date and over 19 years old, it said.
Moreover, the NLD left the National Convention organized by the SPDC so the demand for a ‘dialogue’ is ‘totally nonsense’, it added.
In his article, the writer ‘Lu Thit’ said that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s case is a legal proceeding concerning the trial court. She must face punishment in accordance with the law if found guilty, and she will be acquitted if found not guilty by the court.
But the international community including the UN and Burmese opposition forces, lawyers and ethnic leaders claimed that the junta itself is violating international law and even the law of the land, by arresting and giving long prison sentences to dissidents and by sending them to remote prisons away from their homes.
The ‘Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners –Burma’ (AAPPB) said that there are over 2,100 political prisoners who are languishing in Burmese prisons for their political beliefs.
