ASEAN governments must deplore and condemn the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) which used agent provocateurs to attack cars carrying pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon yesterday and warn the Myanmese military junta against escalating the situation in Burma to justify further repressive actions against the pro-democracy movement.
It has been reported that a mob of about 200 people attacked cars carrying pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her two top aides yesterday, smashing the cars' rear windows and causing dents, although no one was seriously injured.
Later, Suu Kyi said that the attack was carefully orchestrated by Burma's military government and carried out by its supporters. Government soldiers witnessed the melee but did not intervene.
"These hooligans who were inside the police cordon are obviously allowed in by the authorities," Suu Kyi said at a news conference afterward.
The incident took place as Suu Kyi and two top leaders of her National League for Democracy, Kyi Maung and Tin Oo, left Kyi Maung's house in two cars. The mob began beating the cars with fists and sticks, smashing the windows and denting the side of Tin Oo's vehicle.
Witnesses said they had little doubt that the mob was acting with government approval. Such large gatherings in a public place are illegal under military law unless government permission is obtained.
Other mobs were seen roaming the streets from intersection to intersection, led by men with walkie-talkies who appeared to be from military intelligence. Only security personnel are allowed to carry such radios in Burma, where unregistered possession of even a fax machine or modem is punishable by several years' imprisonment.
The latest incident in Rangoon is most disturbing as it raises the question as to whether SLORC has decided to employ thugs and goons to escalate tensions to justify renewed hardlined repressions by the military junta.
ASEAN governments must make it clear that SLORC can expect no support or sympathy from any ASEAN country if it should resort to such a classic but unscrupulous and ruthless tactic of provoking lawlessness in order to justify draconian measures allegedly to “restore law and order” and that it would lead to the immediate rejection of Burma’s application to join ASEAN.
(10/11/96)