June
13, 2017
State Counsellor
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm yesterday,
sharing her fond childhood memories of the Scandinavian nation instilled by her
mother, who told her of the impressive and extensive care provided for all
Swedish citizens, a wish that she has for Myanmar.
Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi was invited to speak to the Riksdag, Sweden’s Parliament, and participated
in a seminar for Nobel Peace Prize laureates. The State Counsellor was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
“Care is the
concept around which we would like to base our essential services to our people
in Myanmar. A state that cares for the basic needs of people through the
assurance of basic human rights, the provision of appropriate health and
education facilities, and capacity building initiatives aimed at equipping them
for the multifarious challenges of our rapidly changing world”, she said.
“We look to our
people to join us in our efforts to build a solid foundation for a caring state
that will be able to contribute significantly to peace, stability and progress
not just in our region but throughout the world”.
But before
essential services can be assured for the people of Myanmar, the State
Counsellor said peace must be attained, with the long path toward peace being
blazed by the meetings of the Union Peace Conference - 21st Century Panglong.
“Myanmar is a
very young and yet incomplete democracy, and as we are a land of great
diversity, the peace process in which we are engaged is extremely complex and
challenging. There is a vital need to build up mutual trust and respect out of
the tangled legacy of long-standing conflicts, some of which go back to the day
we gained independence nearly 70 years ago. Our goal is a stable, democratic
federal union, which will guarantee security, freedom and progress for all our
people”, she said.
Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi made a point to mention Rakhine State, a region that has experienced
discord and violence in recent months and for which she has received criticism.
“The need to
bring peace and harmony to the Rakhine is one of our many challenges,
multi-faceted in its need for a steady building of tolerance and friendship,
for the full protection of rights that only a truly democratic system can
guarantee and for sustainable development that will ease the tensions imposed
by limited resources”, she said.
The State
Counsellor also touched upon the need for updating the country’s constitution.
“Threading
through all these endeavours is the vital need to align our Constitution and
other laws with acceptable norms of democratic governance, never losing sight
of our final goal: a true democratic Federal Union”, she said.
Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi is on an overseas goodwill tour that has included stops in Canada, where
she met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Sweden, where she has met with
Urban Ahlin, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, and Swedish Prime Minister
Stefan Löfven. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also visited the Nobel Museum in Stockholm.
“When peace
comes to our land”, the State Counsellor said in the conclusion to her speech
to the Swedish Parliament, “I hope that our friends from all over the world who
have stood by us in our times of adversity will celebrate our triumph as though
it were their very own”. (The full text of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech is
available at www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com)
GNLM
Ref; The Global
New Light of Myanmar
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