CHRONOLOGY 1998

NLD official jailed

The junta said it had sentenced a member of the NLD to four years in jail on a charge of falsifying documents.

Myo Khin, 39, NLD secretary for Yankin township in Rangoon, was arrested on May 12 and charged with fraudulently altering a family registration list and citizen registration card, the Slorc said in a statement.

The court had passed the sentence after a week of hearings. The statement said Myo Khin’s arrest and sentence had nothing to do with an NLD party gathering.

“Myo Khin coincidently happens to be the secretary of the Yankin township NLD and thus, being a political party member of a certain political party, does not grant him the right to make any fraudulent alterations on official documents,” the statement said.

June

Democracy activist dies

A democracy advocate jailed since 1991, died of heart failure at Rangoon General Hospital. Tin Shwe, a 67 year-old organiser for the NLD, was known to suffer from heart disease and his family had visited him just two days before his death, a Slorc statement said.

Tin Shwe, a lawyer and well-known writer, came from Monywa in Mandalay Division. Aside from his membership in the NLD, he was a prominent student activist during the student revolt of 1962.

Suu Kyi activists released

Hundreds of supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi detained to stop her from holding a party congress were released.

Opposition sources confirmed that most of the 316 activists were released. But the status of several members detained in Irrawaddy Division, just west of Rangoon, was unclear.

Burmese student group disappointed

A Burmese dissident student group said Asean’s decision to admit Burma into the regional grouping was an “historic mistake” which would only encourage the brutal military regime to step up its campaign of terror against the Burmese people.

“Amid the height of repression inside Burma, the ABSDF (All Burma Students’ Democratic Front) is disappointed to learn of its entry into Asean this July.

“We are also extremely disturbed by the decision made in the Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in Kuala Lumpur on May 31.