NLD to Celebrate 20th Anniversary

By SAW YAN NAING

The National League for Democracy will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday in Rangoon with newly released political prisoners. Win Tin, a founder of the NLD, was released on Tuesday along with six other NLD members.

The NLD is the main opposition party which won a landslide victory—392 out of 492 seats—in parliamentary election in 1990. However, the current Burmese government led by Snr-Gen Than Shwe ignored the election result and refused to transfer power to the parliament.

Meanwhile, on Thursday the NLD was warned by the head of Burma’s police, Brig-Gen Khin Yi, to withdraw a statement it made following the release of the political prisoners, said party spokesperson Nyan Win.

The statement called for a review of the junta’s constitutional process. The regime saw the statement as potentially motivating citizens to undertake activities critical of the military government.

Nyan Win said, “They [Burmese authorities] said our earlier statement can motivate people to launch a movement against them. So, they asked us to withdraw our statement.”

“We replied that our statement contained credible information, and we have proof for it. So, we can’t withdraw it,” he said

The NLD statement urged Burmese authorities to reconsider the state constitution, calling the draft constitution one-sided and lacking the participation of the 1990 elected members of parliament.

A lawyer, Thein Nyunt, who is also a member of the NLD information department, said, “It is necessary to review the constitution before it becomes legitimate.”

Burmese authorities unofficially warned opposition leaders that action could be taken against them if they continued to make such statements.

Six members of the NLD’s Central Executive Committee met with Brig-Gen Khin Yi at the Ministry of Home Affairs for about one hour on Thursday, said Nyan Win.

He said Burmese authorities are trying to pressure NLD leaders to stop public criticism of the military regime.

In May, the NLD dismissed the national referendum on the draft constitution, calling it non-inclusive, non-transparent and undemocratic.

The party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained under house arrest for more than 13 of the past 19 years. The latest round of her house arrest began o¬n May 30, 2003, following the ambush of her motorcade by a government-orchestrated mob in Depayin in Burma’s northwest Sagaing Division.