MEDIA RELEASE

27 September 2003

AUNG SAN SUU KYI UNDER HOUSE ARREST AGAIN: INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY CALLED TO STEP UP PRESSUER FOR HER IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Members of Parliament Union (MPU) reiterates its calls for the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to immediately and unconditionally release Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners.

Family physician of Aung San Suu Kyi told the reporters yesterday that Aung San Suu Kyi will be effectively under house arrest at her residence after being discharged from hospital where she underwent a major operation last week. But the junta spokesperson said that Aung San Suu Kyi had been released from hospital and moved to her home.

“We are relieved that Aung San Suu Kyi is recovering well after surgery. But we remain concerned about her health and security as well as those of other political prisoners currently under detention. We reiterate our calls for the SPDC to immediately lift all restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and to release all political prisoners”, said Daniel Aung, MPU Vice President.

This latest move is a face-saving exercise for the junta which has been under intense international pressure for its brutal attack on the National League for Democracy (NLD) and continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. This move will be welcomed as a first positive step by the ASEAN members who do not want the issue of her detention would dominate the ASEAN summit meeting in Bali next month.

"Aung San Suu Kyi's return to house arrest does not represent progress. This development marks no more than a return to the situation in 1989, when she was first placed under house arrest. The member states of ASEAN should not be duped again by this latest diversion tactic of the junta. Instead, international community, particularly ASEAN, must step up pressure on the junta to unconditionally release Aung San Suu Kyi”, said Daniel Aung.

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 58, has been under house arrest twice before – the first time for six years between 1989 and 1995, and the second time for 20 months until she was released in May 2002. Since May 30 incident, she has been again held incommunicado at an undisclosed location until she underwent a major operation last week.

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For further information, please contact:

1. Mr. Maung Maung Latt (Secretary of MPU), Mobile: (+66) 1 733 3891 (Thailand)

2. Dr. Myint Cho (Director of MPU), Tel/Fax: (+61-2) 9646 1211 (Australia) or
Mobile (+61) 402 135 767