Activists from the Malaysian chapter of the Burmese National League for Democracy (NLD) staged a demonstration today against the reconvening of the National Convention in their country.

About 50 activists gathered in front of their embassy in Kuala Lumpur, as police officers and a helmeted riot squad monitored the 10-minute protest.

The NLD members sang patriotic songs and chanted slogans against the convention and the military junta that has ruled Burma since 1990.

It then cracked down against democracy activists including party leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The national convention, a body formed in 1993 to draft a national constitution, reconvened today in the capital of Rangoon.

Democracy and human rights activists have boycotted the proceedings and derided it as illegal and a sham, because opposition leaders still languish in jails or are being held under restricted residence. Ethnic minority groups are excluded from participating in the convention.

"We condemn the national convention as artificial, superficial and of no benefit to the people," NLD foreign relations committee head Richard Butty told malaysiakini during the demonstration.

Party chairperson Kyaw Kyaw ( photo ) said the convention is irrelevant so long as the junta does not release political prisoners, recognise NLD leaders as the rightful winners of the 1990 elections, and halt military operations against ethnic minority groups.

"We don't want this illegal national convention," said Kyaw.

Fallout from raids

Amy Alexander, an activist from the Bangkok-based Chin Human Rights Organisation, urged Malaysian enforcement authorities to exercise better judgement when conducting operations against undocumented migrants.

She was referring to a raid last week by civilian volunteer corp Rela that saw 2,000 Burmese living in Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur, being woken up at 3am on Oct 4, for a check of immigration documents.

About 200 migrants, mainly Chin asylum seekers, were taken into custody. Of this group, 52 Chin - seven of them women - who were not registered with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have been sent to the Lenggeng detention centre to await deportation.

Rela personnel have also been checking on premises that provide protection, welfare and social services to the most vulnerable segment of the refugee Chin community - its women and children, she said.

Alexander, whose documents have been checked, said her organisation runs a shelter - the Chin Refugee Centre (CRC) - for Chin women who are victims of domestic violence. It also provides education for children.

"Every time an operation takes place, we lose about half of our Chin staff and volunteers who are awaiting registration with the UNHCR," she said.

The most recent incident saw the arrest of two women, two teachers and a volunteer from the Chin Students' Organisation who interprets for the CRC. They were among 10 staff and volunteers at the centre.

Alexander said the CRC provides a public service to the community which has no other avenue for their welfare so long they are not recognised as refugees and accorded rights.

Chin children would be left to roam the streets without an education if all the teachers are continually being arrested and deported, she added.