The Irrawaddy Magazine |
| State Counselor, Military Chief to Skip Wa’s 30th Anniversary Celebration Posted: 16 Apr 2019 12:03 AM PDT PANGHSANG, Wa Self-Administered Zone—Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing will not attend the United Wa State Army's 30th anniversary celebrations despite having received invitations from Myanmar's largest ethnic armed group. The UWSA is gearing up to celebrate the event on a grand scale on Wednesday in Panghsang, the Wa capital on the Chinese border in northern Shan State. The Wa army will mark its 30th anniversary with a military parade of 7,600 troops before more than 3,000 visitors, including leaders of other ethnic armed groups, Beijing's Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang, and officials from China's Yunnan province across the border. Founded on April 17, 1989, the UWSA signed a ceasefire with Myanmar's then military government—the State Law and Order Restoration Council—in May of the same year after splitting from the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Since then it has quietly grown into the largest, best-equipped ethnic armed group in Myanmar with an estimated 30,000 troops and 10,000 auxiliary members, according to Myanmar Peace Monitor. The UWSA has not yet signed the government's Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). It serves as the chair of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) alliance, some of whose members are still fighting the Myanmar Army. The government has pressured the UWSA to sign the NCA, but it and other members of the FPNCC want the government to amend some parts of the agreement first. According to UWSA liaison officer U Nyi Rang, the government will be represented at Wednesday's event by eight officials including Union Minister for Labor, Immigration and Population U Thein Swe, Peace Commission Vice Chair U Thein Zaw and President Office's spokesperson U Zaw Htay.  Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun of the Myanmar military's information team told The Irrawaddy that Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing would not attend the celebration. "We are not sure if we will send any representative," he said. However, U Nyi Rang said Shan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Hla Oo would join the UWSA's celebration. Government and top military leaders rarely accept invitations to attend commemorative events held by ethnic armed groups, especially those that have yet to ink peace deals such as the NCA with them. Their decision not to attend, especially Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's, has disappointed the UWSA leadership, according to some Wa officials. Given the State Counselor's tours to other ethnic regions, they said, they had hoped she would attend their commemorative event and had even prepared special accommodations for her. While many were invited, foreign ambassadors and representatives of international NGOs will not be making the trip either, as the Wa Self-Administered Zone is officially off-limits to foreigners. Myanmar's 2008 Constitution acknowledges Wa areas in Shan State as self-administered, but Wa leaders have been lobbying the government to recognize their region as a state like other ethnic regions in the country. The post State Counselor, Military Chief to Skip Wa's 30th Anniversary Celebration appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Daw Khin Kyi—Wife and Mother of National Leaders—Was Born 107 Years Ago Today Posted: 15 Apr 2019 07:20 PM PDT Today would be the 107 birthday of Daw Khin Kyi, the widow of Myanmar's national hero General Aung San and mother of Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Born in Irrawaddy Region's Myaungmya, she married Gen. Aung San, who was three years her junior, while working as a nurse at the Burma Defense Army (BDA) Hospital during Japanese rule. She went through thick and thin with her husband on his tough political path during Japanese rule and after World War II. Less than five years into their marriage, she became a widow with two children when Gen. Aung San was assassinated. 
After the death of her husband, she took an active part in the political, social and health sectors of Myanmar. When the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League established by her late husband split into two, she supported the Clean Faction led by U Nu. In May 1960, Daw Khin Kyi was appointed ambassador to India, becoming the country’s first woman to serve as the head of a diplomatic mission. She later concurrently served as ambassador to Nepal. She retired as an ambassador in 1967 and refused to accept a pension, as the country was facing economic hardship. She died in December 1988 at the age of 76 after suffering a severe stroke. She was entombed beside Supayalat, the chief queen of Myanmar's last monarch King Thibaw; Thakhin Kodaw Hmaing, the father of Myanmar's nationalist and peace movements; and U Thant, who served as the third United Nations secretary general, on Shwedagon Pagoda Road in Yangon. At the centenary of Daw Khin Kyi's birth in 2012, her daughter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi established the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which provides assistance to the social and health care services of Myanmar. The post Daw Khin Kyi—Wife and Mother of National Leaders—Was Born 107 Years Ago Today appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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