Burmese opposition leader dares to take political tour

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took a "political tour" of a neighbouring province Sunday despite previous warnings that such an adventure might lead to re-arrest.

Suu Kyi led a convoy of 36 vehicles from Rangoon around 6:00 am (2300 GMT) accompanied by leaders of her National League for Democracy, diplomats and local journalists.

The one-day trip to Bago, 80 kilometres north-east of Rangoon, marked her first such political venture since her release from a seven-year stint under house arrest on November 13.

"I am very happy with my trip," Suu Kyi said after praying at the Shwe Maw Daw Buddhist pagoda in Bago, where she was greetd by more than 300 well-wishers.

She also visited Bago's Pali University monastery where she offered robes to senior monk Thanwaya, 82.

"If I die now, I will have died happy," said Daw Yi, 89, a female resident ot the monastary.

"I am very excited and happy," said another female resident. "But I hope she will not be arrested again as in the past."

Although state media had previously warned against such a trip, authorities appeared to be cooperating with the Nobel peace laureate Sunday.

"The convoy passed the highway toll gate at about 6:22 am. We have cooperated with her trip," a government official who requested anonymity said.

"All the traffic lights turned green whenever our convoy passed," a journalist who accompanied the convoy said.

Suu Kyi vowed to launch political tours of the countryside three months ago, eliciting vague threats in the government-controlled media.

Editorials in The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece, warned that there might be a repeat of the incident of May 2003, in which Suu Kyi and her followers were attacked in central Myanmar by pro-military thugs while on a politcal tour of the countryside.

Suu Kyi, who was slightly injured in the attack, was arrested and placed under house detention for seven years on charges of disrupting national stability.

But since coming to power in April, Burma's newly elected government has taken a more conciliatory approach to Suu Kyi, and initiated a dialogue with the opposition leader on July 25.

Suu Kyi and the government's liaison Labour Minister Aung Kyi last met on Friday for talks in Rangoon.

"Contradictory opinions will be avoided and cooperation will be carried out on a 'reciprocal basis,'" the two said in a joint statement following their meeting.

They vowed to "meet frequently in the future."

Western democracies have urged the new government to open a dialogue with Suu Kyi and other opposition figures and to free some 2,100 political prisoners, as pre-conditions to improved relations with the new government.

Although voted in to office in November 7, the polls were dubbed a sham by many observers. The new government is led by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, which is packed with retired officers.

Suu Kyi heads the National League for Democracy, which won the 1990 general election but was blocked from power by the military.

The party was officially disbanded last year for refusing to register to contest the November 7 polls.