Hundreds of riot police and soldiers ringed a monument in downtown Yangon yesterday as officials gathered to commemorate the shooting death 61 years ago of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s father.
Myanmar independence hero General Aung San and other government leaders were assassinated by gunmen during a Cabinet meeting on July 19, 1947, shortly after Britain granted independence to the Southeast Asian colony.
Flags were flown at half mast in the capital to mark the day, a state holiday. Unlike past years, foreign diplomats were not invited to the tightly guarded wreath-laying ceremony at the Martyr’s Monument located near the famed Shwedagon pagoda.
PHOTO: EPA
Opposition activists have suggested that the ruling military junta is trying to downgrade the importance of Aung San’s legacy as a way of undercutting the popularity of his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi had not been invited to attend the annual ceremony by the ruling military, an official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said.
“She wasn’t invited to attend the ceremony although the authorities used to send her an invitation,” the official said.
The mayor, Brigadier General Aung Thein Linn, some government officials and family members of the country’s late leaders all attended the 61st anniversary event.
But invitations to foreign embassies were canceled by the foreign affairs ministry without reason, diplomats in Yangon said.
The diplomats said the foreign ministry had informed them that the government intended this year to hold a low-key ceremony because it came just two-and-a half months after Cyclone Nargis devastated much of the region south of Yangon, leaving at least 85,000 people dead and about 50,000 missing.
Police cordoned off the monument, putting up heavy metal barriers and coils of barbed wire across roads.
Dozens of policemen carrying assault rifles and shotguns manned the barricades during a heavy downpour.
Security was also tight around the headquarters of the NLD, where 300 party members gathered yesterday morning, saluting the spot where the leaders were gunned down.
Amid tight security and with armed police trucks present, the gathering was peaceful with no shouting or marching as has been known in previous years.
But the NLD reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
In a statement, the NLD urged the junta to “immediately and unconditionally” release Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained pro-democracy activists.
Earlier this month 14 Aung San Suu Kyi supporters were charged for protesting against the extension of her house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years. Her party swept the last general polls in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power.
The international community has increased pressure on the junta since it violently quashed peaceful mass protests last September. At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary