Suu Kyi’s Birthday Celebrated as Calls for Political Peace Renewed

19 June 2011: Celebrations are held across Burmese communities all over the world today, marking the 66th birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as calls for the release of political prisoners and political solution in the country are renewed.

In a statement released today in celebration of their leader’s birthday, the National League for Democracy (NLD) says it also observes the 19th of June as Women’s Day of Burma in honour of Aung San Suu Kyi’s dedication to democracy and peace in the Southeast Asian country.

At a birthday celebration held in Rangoon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said what she would like to request as a special prayer for her birthday is to have peace in the country, adding: “It is very important that we all can live together peacefully in our country.”

She also stressed that it is not the duty of only one person or group but of each citizen to take part and play an important role in order to bring peace into the country.

In Czech Republic on Friday, a group of supporters including members of the Czech Parliament, representatives of the US Embassy and Czech non-governmental organisations gathered on a bank of the river Vltava in Prague in celebration of Suu Kyi’s birthday, calling for the release of the remaining Burmese political prisoners.

Burma Campaign UK urges the UN to renew its efforts in securing the ‘tripartite’ dialogue between the government, democratic forces and ethnic groups to solve political problems in Burma.

In London, a series of events has been organised including an Open Snooker Tournament by Burma Democratic Concern (BDC), and a multi-faith prayer service with a variety of programmes such as reading poems, collecting supporting signature and other competitions by Burmese religious groups.

Burma’s democracy icon and Nobel Peace laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was released on 13 November 2010 days after the ‘rigged’ general elections in which the government-backed USDP (Union Solidarity and Development Party) was declared winning the majority seats.

Before her release, Ms Suu Kyi remained under house arrest in military-ruled Burma for almost 15 of the past 21 years from July 1989.

Van Biak Thang
[email protected]