MS AUNG San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) pressed ahead yesterday with a planned congress, despite the detention of NLD activists. There were some conciliatory signs from the military junta.
Several hundred NLD members met for the second day the anniversary of the abortive 1990 general elections to discuss policies for a new constitution, Ms economy and human rights, Suu Kyi said.
With the detentions of some 262 NLD activists, only 21 elected officials attended what was supposed to have been a gathering of NLD candidates who won seats on May 27th, 1990.
Junta leaders have unsurprisingly failed to comment on the meeting or the rally, but an article in the state run New Light of Myanmar daily hinted the military authorities were ready to reach a compromise with the opposition. The article, in the Burmese language edition of paper, said reconciliation would be easier to achieve if Ms Suu Kyi were more "objective" regarding her calls on foreign investors to stay away.
Ms Suu Kyi expressed doubt about the ruling junta's desire to engage in dialogue with the opposition, and said any contacts would have to come without strings attached.
"They seem to be setting conditions for dialogue and this is unacceptable because any dialogue has to come without compromise", she told reporters who had been invited to her residence for a tea party. She added that the junta had also failed to give any indication of its goodwill, which she said should take the form of releasing political prisoners and ending the harassment of opposition figures.
"It is well known to everyone that the SLORC has broken many promises in the past" she said, citing the decision by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), as the junta is officially known, to ignore the results of the 1990 elections overwhelmingly won by the NLD. Analysts said the newspaper article, while containing a warning to the opposition not to go overboard, was a rare balanced treatment of Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD.
The article came in sharp contrast to an editorial in the English language edition of the same daily, which warned darkly of "maggots in the flesh" backed by outside interests working to destabilise the country.