Suu Kyi, in trouble, remembers martyrs
Suu Kyi, in trouble, remembers martyrs
YANGON (Reuter): Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
yesterday made a low-key appearance at an official Martyrs' Day
ceremony as state-run media attacked her for urging the West to
impose economic sanctions on Myanmar.
A solemn-looking Suu Kyi, dressed in a black traditional
longyi (sarong), a white blouse and black shawl, placed three
baskets of flowers at her father's tomb at the Martyrs'
Mausoleum, bowed before it and then left the ceremony.
She arrived in a government car, and was accompanied by Lt.
Col. Then Tun, the man who used to be the liaison officer between
the military and Suu Kyi when she was under house arrest.
Suu Kyi, the 51-year old leader of the National League for
Democracy (NLD) party, was released from six years of house
arrest last July.
Minister of Culture Aung San represented the military
government at the ceremony, a solemn occasion held each year to
remember the nine martyrs who were murdered on July 19, 1947.
Suu Kyi's father Gen. Aung San, the architect of Burma's
independence from Britain, six of his pre-independence cabinet
colleagues and two others were gunned down while they were
holding a meeting six months before Myanmar's independence.
Diplomats and observers had said earlier in the week if Suu
Kyi refused an invitation to the ceremony, or if the military did
not invite her to attend, it could hurt already shaky relations
between the government and the opposition.
Suu Kyi said in a video, made public by the European
Parliament on Thursday, that she favored international sanctions
on Myanmar to force political change.
She has repeatedly said over the past few months sanctions
would hurt the government and not the majority of the people
because the military has more to gain from recent investments
than ordinary Myanmarese do.
Faced with international pressure on companies not to invest
in Myanmar, Carlsberg, Heineken and Pepsi have recently pulled
out of Myanmar.
Several U.S. apparel firms have also decided not to renew
contracts with Burmese suppliers.
Suu Kyi did not make any comments after appearing at the
mausoleum. She was due to offer a meal to Buddhist monks later in
the morning to honor the memory of her father and other martyrs,
NLD officials said.
Relatives of the other eight martyrs arrived separately after
Suu Kyi, to lay wreaths at the mausoleum as a steady drizzle fell
across the city.