Myanmar’s junta went on the offensive over Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial yesterday, blaming “anti-government elements” for the visit of an American to her home.
The comments came after widespread condemnation of the decision to try the Nobel Peace Prize winner on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest because of the intrusion.
The New Light of Myanmar reported Foreign Minister Nyan Win as saying that he believed the bizarre incident — in which a 53-year-old man used homemade flippers to swim across a lake to Aung San Suu Kyi’s house — had been set up by anti-junta forces.
PHOTO: REUTERS
American John Yettaw was arrested after staying for two days earlier this month at the house, for which he now faces trial alongside the pro-democracy leader and two female aides who live with her.
The newspaper reported that the foreign minister told his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone during a phone call on Monday that opposition groups were likely behind Yettaw’s visit.
“Minister U Nyan Win expressed his opinion that ... it was likely that this incident was timely trumped up, to intensify international pressure on Myanmar, by internal and external anti-government elements,” the New Light said.
But Yettaw has told the court he swam across the lake after having a premonition Aung San Suu Kyi would be assassinated.
The New Light said the minister believed the controversy had been timed to coincide with a review of policy toward Myanmar while the government was attempting to “build [an] improved relationship with countries all over the world,” the paper said.
A court report in the New Light contradicted the conspiracy theory and said Yettaw had “frightened” Aung San Suu Kyi with his arrival.
A Western diplomat in Yangon, who asked not be named, said the state media report “seems to reveal some kind of disarray and embarrassment” and that the government was reacting to events on a day-to-day basis with no clear strategy.
Security was increased yesterday at Insein Prison in Yangon where the trial is being held, after hundreds of National League for Democracy supporters turned out a day earlier. But few were present yesterday, witnesses said, amid heavy rainfall.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s consul general in Hong Kong has posted a letter on the Internet suggesting that Yettaw was a “secret agent or her boyfriend.”
“Some of our friends inquired about an American, who swam into the Inya Lake, who secretly visited Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house,” said the letter seen yesterday on the consulate’s Web site.
“Their question is why he swam to her and what they discussed within his stay at her house,” said the letter signed by “the Consulate General of the Union of Myanmar.”
“Frankly, we have no idea whether he is either secret agent or her boyfriend at this moment. We shall try to learn it and tell you later,” it said.
For emphasis, the words “either secret agent or her boyfriend” were in bold and underlined.
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