National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) yesterday said that it has conferred an honorary doctorate in law on Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi for her pursuit of democracy in Myanmar.
“It is a great honor for National Chiao Tung University [NCTU] to present an honorary doctorate to one of the greatest politicians in the world,” the school said in a statement.
It is the first honorary doctorate that Aung Sang Suu Kyi has received since she was released from house arrest in 2010.
Former university president Wu Yan-hwa (吳妍華), who traveled to Yangon to present the degree to Aung Sang Suu Kyi on Saturday, said she was a role model for the university’s faculty and students because of her pursuit of freedom, democracy and human rights.
The school’s statement quoted Aung Sang Suu Kyi as saying that she was happy to be awarded a degree in law, an area she cares about, since only the rule of law can bring peace to a country.
She said that her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), gave top priority to “rule of law” in its election manifesto so Burmese who see the law as an instrument to suppress uprising and to enhance the government’s power could understand that the “law is about bringing harmony and peace to a society,” the statement added.
Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while she was under house arrest, led the NLD to a landslide victory in Myanmar’s Nov. 8 elections. The party won enough seats in both houses of the parliament to form the next government.
Former minister of education Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗), chancellor of the University System of Taiwan, traveled with Wu to Myanmar for the presentation ceremony.
Tzeng said he invited Aung Sang Suu Kyi to visit Taiwan to speak as part of the Sayling Wen Academic Lecture Series.
NCTU, National Tsing Hua University, National Central University and National Yang-ming University are the four schools in the system.
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