Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) urged the country's military rulers yesterday to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and three other leaders before inviting it to join renewed talks on a new constitution.
The call followed remarks by Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung, who said the NLD would be invited to join a constitutional conference on May 17. The NLD won general elections in 1990 but the military junta refused to hand over power.
"We have not decided on what to do about the national convention, but we need all our leaders free first," NLD central executive committee member Soe Myint said.
"Only then we will discuss this matter among ourselves and then make a final decision," he said.
Suu Kyi and three other NLD executives, who are still under house arrest, were detained last May when opposition supporters clashed with government backers.
The three are NLD chairman Aung Shwe, deputy chairman Tin Oo and U Lwin, the party's secretary. Suu Kyi has spent nine of the past 13 years under house arrest.
The military government, under pressure to show it is sincere about its "road map to democracy" announced last August, set the date for the constitutional meeting last week, but it made no mention of Suu Kyi.
Last week, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the US and human rights groups called on the junta to allow Suu Kyi and her party to participate in drawing up a new constitution for the country, ruled by the military since 1962.
On Saturday, Win Aung told his Thai counterpart in Bangkok on a stopover from Seoul to Yangon, "The National Convention will have the NLD's participation and they will join in the constitution-drafting process," a Thai spokesman said.
The National Convention first met in 1993 but was suspended in 1996 after the NLD walked out, accusing the military of manipulating the process to stay in power.
Win Aung initially said after he arrived in Bangkok on Saturday that Suu Kyi would be freed from arrest before the meeting gets under way on May 17. But he later backtracked, saying his government was focused on preparing for the conference.
"That is the most important thing, and the problem of Aung San Suu Kyi will be taken care of, and we don't have any animosity or any vengeful acts against anyone," Win Aung said.
There has been speculation Suu Kyi may be freed in mid-April following a visit to Yangon last month by UN special envoy Razali Ismail, who said Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt was committed to taking his country to democracy and Suu Kyi was ready to work with him.
But the NLD was not convinced of the release.
"It is not the first time they said this," said Soe Myint. "We will believe it only when it really takes place."
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS