Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) yesterday prepared to celebrate the 60th birthday of their detained leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, as international pressure mounted for the democracy leader's release from house arrest.
Events around the world have highlighted Suu Kyi's and her country's plight -- from a small celebration of Myanmar culture in Thailand, to anti-regime protests outside Myanmar embassies, to calls for her freedom from world leaders, including US President George W. Bush.
Bush issued a statement saying that "only a return to democracy and reintegration with the international community can bring the freedom and prosperity that the people of Burma deserve."
PHOTO: AFP
Suu Kyi, the daughter of the country's independence hero, is under her third term of house arrest since the junta ignored the NLD's sweeping victory in 1990 elections. She has no communication with the outside world, save for her shortwave radio.
Her latest detention began in May 2003, after she and NLD members travelling in a convoy were attacked in northern Myanmar by thugs in what was believed to be a botched assassination attempt ordered by the junta.
To mark her birthday, NLD members in Yangon planned to release 10 doves, representing peace, and 60 balloons, one for each year of Suu Kyi's life, as well as issue a letter urging dialogue with the ruling generals.
PHOTO: AP
One balloon would feature a card with the words "may Daw Aung San Suu Kyi be freed," and anyone returning both items to the NLD's headquarters would receive 10,000 kyats (US$11), NLD women's committee member Lai Lai said.
The NLD has invited diplomats, officials from political parties allied with the NLD, former student leaders and veterans to attend the celebrations. Ten Buddhist monks were scheduled to perform religious rites at dawn before offering food alms.
"The number 10 in Burmese also means either `save' or `salvage' and conveys our desire to have all political prisoners, including Daw Suu Kyi, saved from their present predicament," Lai Lai said.
"Whether or not Daw Suu is freed ultimately depends on the whims and fancies of the military leaders. We can but hope and pray for her freedom," Lai Lai said.
During the celebrations stationary and other school materials would be given to the children of political prisoners, of whom, watchdog group Amnesty International estimates, at least 1,350 remain in Myanmar's prisons.
Suu Kyi remains in good health, NLD spokesman U Lwin said.
"Her personal doctor, who gets to see her but once a month, assured us that her health is generally good," he said, without adding when the last visit was.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has taken the rare step of making a public statement about a past Nobel Peace Prize winner, asking Myanmar's military regime to free Suu Kyi.
The five-member committee on Friday expressed its continuing admiration for Suu Ky.
``We ask that she be set free immediately. We look forward to the day that democracy again rules her country,'' said a statement issued by committee chairman Ole Mjoes.
Suu Kyi won the coveted prize for her nonviolent efforts to bring democracy and human rights to her country. She was unable to attend her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo.
Fellow Noble laureates, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama have sent messages.
Meanwhile, at the Myanmar Embassy in Washington on Friday, Democratic Representative Tom Lantos hailed Suu Kyi as "one of the greats of our age" and delivered a box containing hundreds of birthday cards sent from from 20 countries and each of the 50 US states. The mission appeared shut and no one accepted the cards.
The gesture by Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the US Congress, capped a protest of about 100 Myanmar exiles and US activists.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS