Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday pledged to keep up her struggle for democracy as she finally delivered her Nobel Peace Prize speech, 21 years after winning the award while under house arrest.
After a year that has seen sweeping changes in her Southeast Asian homeland, Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to work for national reconciliation, but also pointed to remaining political prisoners and continued ethnic strife in her country.
“My party, the National League for Democracy, and I stand ready and willing to play any role in the process of national reconciliation,” she said, delivering her speech in Oslo for the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
Photo: AFP
Wearing a flower in her hair, a sarong and a purple silk scarf, she looked emotional as she received a thunderous standing ovation in the cavernous Oslo City Hall, packed with dignitaries, royals and Burmese exiles.
The veteran activist also said she encouraged “cautious optimism” in her country’s transition from military rule toward democracy under the quasi-civilian government of Burmese President Thein Sein.
“If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future, but because I do not want to encourage blind faith,” she said.
Although the government has signed ceasefires with scores of ethnic rebel groups, she pointed to continued bloodshed — conflict with the northern Kachin Independence Army and communal unrest between Buddhists and a Muslim minority.
“Hostilities have not ceased in the far north. To the west, communal violence resulting in arson and murder were taking place just several days before I started out on the journey that has brought me here today,” she said.
When Aung San Suu Kyi won the honor in 1991, she could not accept it in person, fearing she would be blocked from returning to the country, also called Burma, where “The Lady” had become a potent symbol of non-violent defiance.
Her husband, Michael Aris, and their two sons, Kim and Alexander, accepted the award on her behalf. When her husband died of cancer in 1999, Aung San Suu Kyi could not be by his side, again fearing she would not be allowed to come home.
Aung San Suu Kyi — who has campaigned since 1988 for democracy in Myanmar — said that “often during my days of house arrest it felt as though I were no longer a part of the real world.”
“For me receiving the Nobel Peace Prize means personally extending my concerns for democracy and human rights beyond national borders,” Aung San Suu Kyi said. “The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart.”
This week, back in Europe for the first time in 24 years, Western supporters and Burmese exiles are cheering her along a whirlwind tour that started in Switzerland and will also take her to Britain, Ireland and France.
In Norway, she has been greeted with flowers and songs by jubilant Burmese, many with her party’s Fighting Peacock flag painted on their faces.
Aung San Suu Kyi called for the release of the country’s remaining political prisoners, warning of the risk that “the unknown ones will be forgotten.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number