Burmese Protests Fail to Move Regime : Demand for Interim Rule Rejected; Party to Weigh Referendum

Flag-waving anti-government demonstrators filled the streets of Rangoon on Thursday, sending a message to the embattled Burmese regime but failing to shake its resolve on a timetable for political change.

President Maung Maung, speaking over official Rangoon Radio after the streets had cleared, rejected the protesters’ demands for an interim government.

In his first public statement since announcing his support for a multiparty system eight days ago, Maung Maung repeated his pledge that the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party will meet Sept. 12 to consider a referendum on an open political system in Burma, which was ruled under the iron fist of strongman Ne Win for the past quarter century.

He said approval of an open system in the referendum would lead to a rewriting of the constitution and general elections but insisted that what he termed proper procedures be followed. The present constitution permits only one political party.

Student-led demonstrators, backed by government workers and old guard opposition politicians, have demanded that Maung Maung give way to an interim government of “patriots.”

Maung Maung, 63, a jurist and the first civilian to head the government since 1962, continued a policy of concessions to the demonstrators, declaring that student unions, outlawed since Ne Win’s 1962 coup, may now be formed. In defiance of the constitutional ban, the Rangoon University Student Union was re-established Sunday by the protesters.

Thursday’s mass rally at Bandoola Park in downtown Rangoon reportedly broke up in a little over an hour. The absence of a strong, identifiable leader has plagued the opposition forces since demonstrations exploded in violence early last month, and Thursday’s rally underlined their lack of organization.

Strike Call Successful

A call for a nationwide strike was more successful, however, and striking workers at Rangoon’s international airport shut down operations throughout the day. Burmese airlines were shut down last week, and on Thursday, flights by the national carriers of Thailand, Nepal and Bangladesh were canceled, effectively sealing off the country of 38 million people. Rangoon’s port has been closed for more than a week.

Most shops and offices in the capital were shuttered. As a diplomat reported by telephone, “The whole place is shut down.”

Strikes closed government offices in many parts of the city as workers stayed home or joined demonstrators. Many government facilities were occupied by students and Buddhist monks in disregard of a Wednesday night broadcast by Rangoon Radio warning against occupying offices.

An increased military presence was reported on the fringes of the capital and around key buildings, but the soldiers made no move to stop the protest marches. Demonstrators calling for an end to one-party rule in Burma have had free run of the streets since Aug. 12, when Sein Lwin, the handpicked successor to Ne Win, was driven from the presidency by five days of violent protests in which soldiers fired into the crowds, killing an estimated 1,000 people.

Maung Maung was named president on Aug. 19 by the military-dominated ruling party.

Thursday’s marchers waved red flags and chanted “Victory, victory” as they marched to the park and repeated their demands for an interim government. Reports from Rangoon varied widely on the size of the crowds, but a Western ambassador said in a telephone interview: “There were several hundred thousand, and it was peaceful.”