Aung San Suu Kyi’s deputy urged Myanmar’s ruling junta yesterday to engage the opposition in dialogue before elections this year, as he took his first steps outside as a free man in seven years.
Tin Oo, 83, vice chairman of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), made the appeal as he prayed at Yangon’s famed Shwedagon Pagoda following his release from house arrest late on Saturday.
“Because I am a Buddhist I came here to wish for peace for all Myanmar people,” he said as he toured the huge golden monument, accompanied by his wife and a dozen NLD officials who held umbrellas to protect him from the sun.
PHOTO: AP
“My feeling now is that I wish to find a way through successful dialogue that the whole country can live unitedly and peacefully,” he said.
However, he said his own release means nothing if Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, and some 2,100 other political prisoners are still detained when the elections take place.
Tin Oo had been held since 2003, when he and Aung San Suu Kyi were arrested after a pro-junta mob attacked their motorcade during a political tour, killing 70 people.
He was a former army general and defense minister who was forced into retirement in the 1970s after falling foul of the country’s military rulers. He was in trouble again in the 1990s because of his involvement with the NLD.
“How can I be glad [that I am free] when there are so many who have been sentenced to life imprisonment? It is not enough to release me alone,” Tin Oo said.
“All people will be happy if all things can be discussed and a solution can be reached,” he said.
He said on Saturday that the government had warned him not to take actions that could “disturb the building of the state” but that he would continue his political activities and visit the offices of the NLD today.
Tin Oo’s release comes with the UN human rights envoy for Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, due to visit the country today to examine its progress.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from