THE BURMESE opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has called for an international economic boycott against the ruling military junta, has denied official accusations that her party was motivated by hunger for power.
Aung San Suu Kyi was responding to official accusations that her National League for Democracy (NLD) was conspiring with external elements and that its elected officials who have been stopped by the junta from taking office were seeking to grab power.
"We have never demanded power, we are only asking for the right of elected candidates to be able to take up their responsibilities according to the mandate given by the people," she said.
She was speaking to more than 4,000 people who turned out to hear her weekly public talk on Saturday. The one hour meeting ended without incident.
The majority of elected candidates belong to Aung San Suu Kji's NLD, which made a clean sweep of the 1990 general elections, the results of which have been ignored by the ruling junta.
Burma's military rulers have insisted that a constitution be first put in place before they will consider handing over power.
Following abortive appeals to get the military authorities to convene a parliament, the NLD scheduled a meeting of its candidates last May, only to have its candidates picked up and temporarily detained to prevent the meeting.
Military authorities accuse the NLD of attempting to seize power.
Meanwhile, the military junta yesterday continued to denounce "internal destructionists".
"A group of persons in the nation are marring the constructive endeavours of the government and hoping for involvement of external elements to seize the opportunity to grab power," said Gen Maung Aye, the deputy military chief, in the state owned New Light of Myanmar.