Myanmar army man apologizes for threat to kill Suu Kyi

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

A pro-junta supporter apologized to the election-winning National League for Democracy (NLD) party Monday for a Facebook post in which he threatened to assassinate its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Senior NLD leader Hantha Myint told Anadolu Agency by phone that Ye Lwin Myint -- accompanied by his parents -- had visited party headquarters in Yangon to say sorry in person.

"He also promised not to do so again, so we will not take any action against him," said the NLD leader.

Last week, a post written under Lwin Myint's name had stated that if a constitutional article barring Suu Kyi from the presidency were suspended: “I’ll just need an AWM [a sniper rifle] or an AS 50 gun and a month of training.”

Myanmar’s military-drafted constitution blocks Suu Kyi from becoming president under article 59(f) – which many suspect is aimed solely at her – banning anyone with foreign relatives becoming the country’s leader.

Suu Kyi’s two sons are both British citizens.

NLD lawmakers are planning to submit a proposal to suspend article 59 (f) to parliament.

“I will surely kill her. I am serious,” Lwin Myint wrote, adding that he was planning to launch a Facebook group called “Those dying to assassinate Daw Suu” and that he had been sleeping with a rifle since the age of 10.

Daw is a local Myanmar honorific that means “aunt”.

The post included a photo of two men posing with assault rifles, one said to be Lwin Myint.

Monday's apology comes days after the NLD’s legal team said they had collected data and information to file a lawsuit against him.

Later Monday, Ye Lwin Myint revisited the subject, writing on Facebook that he went to the NLD office as his parents didn't want him to get into trouble.

The man's father is reported to be a former military attache now serving as Lieutenant Commander-XO of the Southern Regional Military Command based in insurgency-plagued southern Karen state.

From 1962 to 2011, Myanmar was ruled by an oppressive military junta in which generals suppressed almost all dissent and stood accused of gross human rights abuses, prompting international condemnation and sanctions.

The dictatorship was terminated by the 2010 NLD-boycotted general election, in which the military-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Party won a vast majority.

Many analysts have claimed that much of the NLD's landslide victory was not necessarily a vote for the NLD, but rather a vote against the military regime.

Authorities have recently sentenced an NLD member and a Kachin aid worker to six months in jail for Facebook posts concerning the military.

Another four are facing trail for posting satirical comments concerning the military on social media.

NLD spokesperson Win Htein told Anadolu Agency on Saturday that the party has tightened security arrangements for Suu Kyi, daughter of the country’s late independence hero Gen. Aung San, who was assassinated by a group of gunmen in July 19, 1947, six months before the end of British colonial rule.

“We are serious because the history teaches us there are always people who use such stupid guys for their interests,” he underlined.