Suu Kyi demands minority rights
Published: 25/07/2012 at 06:34 PMOnline news:


NAYPYIDAW : Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday called for laws to protect the rights of the strife-torn nation's myriad ethnic minorities in her maiden speech to the fledgling parliament.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner won a seat in the legislature in landmark April by-elections, marking a dramatic transformation from a longtime political prisoner to a key figure in the budding reform process.

The veteran activist used her first short address to lawmakers to support a motion by a ruling-party MP on upholding ethnic minority rights.

"To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities," she said.

Protecting ethnic rights required more than just maintaining languages and culture, she added, noting that minority groups suffer above-average poverty rates.

"Furthermore, the flames of war are not completely extinguished," she said.

Ongoing fighting in Kachin state in the north has displaced tens of thousands of people and cast a shadow over the government's efforts to reach ceasefire agreements with the country's various armed ethnic minority groups.

Meanwhile recent clashes between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless in Rakhine state in the west.

Myanmar's government considers the Rohingya to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

BANGKOK POST