Ncgub NewsDesk

6 December 2002

From the NCGUB Information Unit

 

In The News

• Former military strong- man General Ne Win, who through his military-run Burmese Way to Socialism turned resource rich Burma into an impoverished nation, and was disgraced when his son-in-law and grandsons were tried and sentenced to death for an alleged military coup, passed away on the morning of 5 Dec. A few hours later on the same day, his remains were cremated quietly.

 

•  SPDC announced the release of "115"political prisoners with much fanfare on 21 Nov. The elaborate propaganda hailed by international press agencies as "the biggest single  release" was actually not quite what it seemed to be. Junta spokesman Col Hla Min, when asked to confirm the "exact number" of released on 26 November said: "We have only freed 60 of them, 55 others have yet to be released." No one has been freed since then.

 

•  National League for Democracy has begun accepting new member-ship and is distributing application forms to its party branches nation-wide. Interest among young people is said to be high.

 

CRPP offers to be dialogue partner

 

Two political parties were officially accepted as new members in the Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP) during its regular meeting on 4 December.  The two parties admitted are the Party for National Democracy, a party that fielded three candidates and won all the three seats in the 1990 elections, and whose chairman Dr Sein Win, now heads the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.  The Party for National Democracy, whose patrons are Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, is also a sister party of the National League for Democracy.

 

The other party that became a new member is National Democratic Party for Human Rights, which fielded eight candidates and won four from Arakan State constituencies, western Burma, in the 1990 elections.

 

CRPP Secretary U Aye Thar Aung said so far there had been four applicants for membership in the CRPP, an independent elected representative and the Patriotic Old Comrades League, a party of former military officers allied with the NLD.

 

U Aye Thar Aung (photo) said the CRPP comprised of ethnic nationalities and major political parties that won the 1990 elections was in "the best" position "if talks are to be held to resolve the political and economic hardships facing Burma today.  We believe that the quicker the talks are held, the faster the existing political problems will be resolved."

 

The CRPP now comprises the NLD (392 seats), Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (23), Arakan League for Democracy (11), Mon National Democratic Front (5), National Democratic Party for Human Rights (4), Party for National Democracy (3), and Zomi National Congress (2).  Formed in September 1998 and given mandate by elected representatives to act on their behalf before the Parliament could be convened, it commands a total of 440 seats out of the 485 at stake in the 1990 elections.

 

U Win Tin Hospitalized but remains in custody

 

U Win Tin well- known writer and member of the National League for Democracy (NLD),  was transferred from Rangoon's Insein Prison to Rangoon General Hospital on 23 November.  U Win Tin, 72, who has already spent 13 years behind bars, was reported to be suffering from a heart ailment  Reporters Sans Frontieres, RSF, which had been campaigning for the release of U Win Tin, recently staged a two-week protest in front of the Burmese Embassy in France.

A Paris street in front of the Burmese Embassy has been renamed in U Win Tin's honor.