Press Release, May 9, 2006

Junta Embarking on 'Deliberate' Plan to Weaken Legitimate Parties

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) strongly condemns the Burmese military regime for embarking on a deliberate and coordinated plan to decimate the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) -- the two largest legitimate political parties.

The NLD Executive Committee has called on the regime to immediately stop pressuring its party members to resign.  NLD Spokesperson U Nyan Win said the party had made that call because "pressure tactics are being applied in eastern Shan State areas as well as other states and divisions".

The reason that the Burmese generals have decided to resort to that evil design is because they know that they can never politically defeat the two parties.  The plot to decimate the two parties was first revealed by the regime's Minister for Information Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan when he said the NLD did not have the support of the people and threatened to declare NLD as unlawful "because of its links to terrorists".  Since then, security and police personnel have been stepping up their threat, harassment, persuasion, and pressure on members of the NLD and the SNLD and forcing them to resign from the two political parties.

The junta has also continued to restrict the movement of leading NLD members, closed down NLD offices, denied NLD members and their close relatives rights accorded to ordinary citizens -- from earning a living to furthering education, and even lodged protests when others provide educational training courses for NLD members.

Expressing concern over developments in Burma, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar has said "Even though we do not want to interfere in their affairs, they [the generals] are not helping us in creating the necessary confidence in the international community".

The NCGUB calls on governments and democratic nations to help put an immediate end to the Burmese regime's egregious scheme to destroy the legitimate political parties, and urges the member nations of United Nations Security Council to urgently intervene and halt the blatant injustices being committed, and to start a process to restore democracy in Burma.

Contact: Tel: 1-301-424-4810 Fax: 1-301-424-4812 E-mail: ncgub@ncgub.net