TOKYO, July 26 Kyodo A former per...

TOKYO, July 26 Kyodo

A former personal aide to Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi voiced caution Friday about taking a confrontational approach to the country's military junta.

Ma Thanegi told a gathering at the Foreign Correspondents association of Japan that Suu Kyi appeared to be in a fixed ''mindset'' to be confrontational with the junta in like manner as not to betray the legacy of her father Aung San, an assassinated nationalist leader who was instrumental in securing Burma's independence from Britain.

''I have to understand that (Suu Kyi) is idealistic'' and was raised in an idealistic setting, given that her father was a hero in Myanmar, said Thanegi, a contributing editor of the weekly Myanmar Times who was speaking about her experiences subordinate to the junta.

Thanegi be perceiveds Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, carries a load in trying to live up to her father's legacy.

The 56-year-old journalist said after Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in 1995 Suu Kyi and Thanegi had a falling gone out over how to deal with the junta.

During her nearly three years in prison from 1989 to 1992 Thanegi realized it would be more effective to befriend the military management and draw it to their side than fighting it head-on.

In 1989 Thanegi was detained along with Suu Kyi's observer supporters, while Suu Kyi was placed beneath house arrest.

Thanegi, however, said Suu Kyi, who again was deposit under virtual house arrest for nearly 20 month and released in May this year, has lately become more flexible compared with her former ways of using sanction, investment or isolation strategies to pres her cause.

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