Tingplik Express

YANGON, Myanmar (TEN) : Security was stepped up around detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house Tuesday, as Myanmar's military junta faced a deadline to decide whether to release her or extend her house arrest for another year.

Her house arrest -- which has been renewed annually -- is believed to expire at midnight Tuesday, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy party. With the regime saying nothing, there has been uncertainly about the exact expiration.

NLD members marched Tuesday from the party's headquarters to Aung San Suu Kyi's home when riot police shoved the group into a truck and detained more than a dozen.

It was not immediately clear where the truck was headed or exactly how many people were detained.

About 20 plain clothes police officers stood guard outside Suu Kyi's lakeside house, while six truckloads of riot police were on guard near NLD headquarters.

The ruling generals have given no sign they will release Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been confined for more than 12 of the past 18 years. Her latest period of arrest began in 2003.

The decision comes at a delicate time for the junta.

It already is facing international condemnation for the way it failed the relief effort, with more than half of the 2.4 million survivors of Cyclone Nargis still desperately needing food, clean water and shelter more than three weeks after the disaster.

And the law would seem to be on Aung San Suu Kyi's side. No one can be held longer than five years without being released or put on trial, said U.S. lawyer Jared Genser, hired by Aung San Suu Kyi's family to push for her release. But few expect her to be released, despite urging by both the United Nations and some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"Their failure to abide by their own law by refusing to release (Aung San Suu Kyi) ... is a clear slap in the face to (U.N. Secretary-General) Ban Ki-moon and the ASEAN diplomats," Genser said earlier this week. "They are out of time to hold her under their own law."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda called Tuesday for her release, saying it would be a way of thanking the international community for its generosity after the cyclone, which killed at least 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.

"I hope for the best but to be frank I'm not optimistic," he said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current junta seized power in 1988 and refused to honor the results of 1990 general elections that were won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party.

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