[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

NEWS - Yangon Quiet as Suu Kyi Pays (r)



Rangoon Post Co-Editor wrote:
> 
> Yangon Quiet as Suu Kyi Pays Martyrs' Day Respects
> 
>             Reuters
>             19-JUL-98
> 
>             YANGON, July 19 (Reuters)- Myanmar's capital Yangon was
> quiet and
>             security relaxed as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi paid
> respects at her
>             father's tomb in Yangon on Sunday morning as the country
> commemorated
>             its annual Martyrs' Day.
> 
>             The ruling government had recently warned opposition groups
> against
>             fuelling rumours there would be unrest in the city either
> this Sunday or on
>             August 8, the 10th anniversary of the 1988 student protests
> which were
>             crushed by the military.
> 
>             Suu Kyi arrived at the Martyrs' Mausoleum near the foot of
> the central
>             Shwedegon Pagoda Hill this morning in a black
> government-arranged sedan.
> 
>             For the fourth consecutive Martyrs' Day ceremony Suu Kyi was
> accompanied
>             by Colonel Than Tun, a senior government intelligence
> officer who has acted
>             as her liaison since her release from house arrest on July
> 10, 1995.
> 
>             Dressed in a traditional black longyi (sarong), white blouse
> and black scarf,
>             53-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate Suu Kyi knelt and placed
> three baskets of
>             flowers before the tomb.
> 
>             Suu Kyi's father General Aung San, the architect of
> Myanmar's
>             independence from Britain, six of his cabinet colleagues, a
> secretary and a
>             bodyguard were gunned down on July 19, 1947 while holding a
> meeting six
>             months before the country's independence.
> 
>             Top government generals from the ruling State Peace and
> Development
>             Council (SPDC) did not attend this morning's ceremony but
> were
>             represented by the Minister of Culture Win Sein and other
> government
>             officials.
> 
>             They laid a wreath on behalf of the SPDC chairman, Senior
> General Than
>             Shwe.
> 
>             Suu Kyi's opposition party the National League for
> Democracy, which won a
>             landslide general election victory in 1990 that was never
> recognised by the
>             government, also marked the day with a ceremony.
> 
>             About 500 guests, including party members, foreign diplomats
> and some
>             veteran politicians gathered inside Suu Kyi's lakeside
> residence for a
>             commemoration but no speeches were made.
> 
>             Security arrangements near Suu Kyi's residence were more
> relaxed than
>             normal and there were no reports of disturbances elsewhere
> in the city.