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ASSK: Speech on July 6




The following is the exact transcription of ASSK's concluding remarks -- in
English -- at the 4pm rally on Sat, July 6.

*****
Aung San Suu Kyi
*****

"I've been asked to explain in English what we have been talking about at this
meeting.  To begin with, I have answered questions which have come up from the
audience here.

"Some of the questions refered to the state of education in Burma, the way in
which in many schools the children -- rather the parents of students -- are
forced to give donations to the school and are forced to attend extra sessions
in lieu of tuition.

"The education system in Burma is so poor that children have to take tuition
(tutoring) outside the class in order to cover the whole syllabus.

"We do not think this is the way to develop high education standards in our
country.  And also, this is discrimination against poor people who cannot
afford tuition (tutoring) fees.

"There was also a question about new houses that have been built in Mandalay.
I was asked . . . According to this letter, some houses cost about 1,000 lakhs
(roughly $800,000) and these have been built by civil servants who earn 2,000
kyat a month.  So, I was asked the question: 'How long would those people have
to save up in order to afford a house like that?'  And the answer is:  they
would have to save their whole salary for 50,000 months in order to build a
house like that.  (applause)  So we think there is something wrong with the
system when civil servants can afford to buy houses that will cost them 50,000
months' salary.  (laughter from crowd)

"And in the end I gave a short talk on Bosnia because there are some people
who have been saying that Burma is like Bosnia.  This way they cannot give
democracy to Burma -- in case the whole country collapses.

"My argument is that it is an insult to the people of Burma to compare it to
Bosnia.  (applause)  We are not like Bosnia, and in any case, the main reason
for the trouble in Bosnia is not that there was too much freedom, but because
for too long the government was far too repressive and also the fact that due
to successive repressive governments over long years of history, Bosnia has
ended up in the state it is now today.

"We believe we shall have democracy because the people of Burma want democracy
and they deserve it and they know how to cope with it.  It is not new to our
country.  We have had it before and we shall have it again.  (applause)

"That is the gist of my speech."