Hundreds of riot police and soldiers ringed a monument in downtown Yangon yesterday as officials gathered to commemorate the shooting death 61 years ago of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s father.
Myanmar independence hero General Aung San and other government leaders were assassinated by gunmen during a Cabinet meeting on July 19, 1947, shortly after Britain granted independence to the Southeast Asian colony.
Flags were flown at half mast in the capital to mark the day, a state holiday. Unlike past years, foreign diplomats were not invited to the tightly guarded wreath-laying ceremony at the Martyr’s Monument located near the famed Shwedagon pagoda.
PHOTO: EPA
Opposition activists have suggested that the ruling military junta is trying to downgrade the importance of Aung San’s legacy as a way of undercutting the popularity of his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi had not been invited to attend the annual ceremony by the ruling military, an official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said.
“She wasn’t invited to attend the ceremony although the authorities used to send her an invitation,” the official said.
The mayor, Brigadier General Aung Thein Linn, some government officials and family members of the country’s late leaders all attended the 61st anniversary event.
But invitations to foreign embassies were canceled by the foreign affairs ministry without reason, diplomats in Yangon said.
The diplomats said the foreign ministry had informed them that the government intended this year to hold a low-key ceremony because it came just two-and-a half months after Cyclone Nargis devastated much of the region south of Yangon, leaving at least 85,000 people dead and about 50,000 missing.
Police cordoned off the monument, putting up heavy metal barriers and coils of barbed wire across roads.
Dozens of policemen carrying assault rifles and shotguns manned the barricades during a heavy downpour.
Security was also tight around the headquarters of the NLD, where 300 party members gathered yesterday morning, saluting the spot where the leaders were gunned down.
Amid tight security and with armed police trucks present, the gathering was peaceful with no shouting or marching as has been known in previous years.
But the NLD reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
In a statement, the NLD urged the junta to “immediately and unconditionally” release Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained pro-democracy activists.
Earlier this month 14 Aung San Suu Kyi supporters were charged for protesting against the extension of her house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years. Her party swept the last general polls in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power.
The international community has increased pressure on the junta since it violently quashed peaceful mass protests last September. At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
RSS