Myanmar yesterday accused opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi of deliberately covering up the presence of a US man in her home and warned foreign governments against interfering in the case.
“It is no doubt that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has committed a cover-up of the truth by her failure to report an illegal immigrant to the authorities concerned,” Major General Aye Myint, Myanmar’s deputy defense minister, told a security forum in Singapore.
“Thus there was no option but to open legal proceedings in accordance with the law,” he said.
“She permitted him to stay ... She communicated, provided him food and shelter,” he said.
The Nobel laureate is on trial at Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison and faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest. She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention.
John Yettaw, a 53-year-old Mormon and US military veteran, was arrested on May 6 after swimming to Aung San Suu Kyi’s house using a pair of homemade flippers and spending two nights there.
He is also on trial.
In his speech yesterday to regional security officials and experts, Aye Myint said the case against Aung San Suu Kyi was an internal matter for Myanmar to resolve.
“Countries should refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Myanmar that will affect peace and security of the region,” he said.
Critics say Myanmar’s military regime trumped up the charges in a bid to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up ahead of next year’s elections. The latest six-year period of her house arrest expired on Wednesday.
“It is the universal legal principle that no one is above the law,” Aye Myint said.
“Only when this legal principle is upheld, put into practice and encouraged will there be rule of law in a country,” he said, adding that “anarchy will prevail” if offenders are not punished.
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
FIRST STAGE: Hamas has agreed to release 48 Israeli hostages in exchange for 250 ‘national security prisoners’ as well as 1,700 Gazans, but has resisted calls to disarm Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas’ network of tunnels under Gaza, working with US approval after its hostages are freed, it said yesterday. Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said that the operation would be conducted under an “international mechanism” led by the US. “Israel’s great challenge after the hostage release phase will be the destruction of all Hamas terrorist tunnels in Gaza,” Katz said. “I have ordered the army to prepare to carry out this mission,” he added. Hamas operates a network of tunnels under Gaza, allowing its fighters to operate out of sight of Israeli reconnaissance. Some have passed under
RSS