| Suu Kyi accepts Nobel prize 21 years later |
OSLO Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi finally accepted her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Saturday after spending a total of 15 years under house arrest and said full political freedom in her country was still a long way off.
“Absolute peace in our world is an unattainable goal,” Suu Kyi said in her acceptance speech during her first trip to Europe in nearly 25 years.
“Hostilities have not ceased in the far north; to the west, communal violence resulting in arson and murder were taking place just several days before I started out the journey that has brought me here today.”
Suu Kyi, the Oxford University-educated daughter of General Aung San, Myanmar’s assassinated independence hero, advocated caution about transformation in Myanmar, whose quasi-civilian government continues to hold political prisoners.
“There still remain such prisoners in Burma. It is to be feared that because the best known detainees have been released, the remainder, the unknown ones, will be forgotten,” Suu Kyi, 66, told a packed Oslo City Hall.
During her acceptance speech, Suu Kyi skirted the issue of sectarian violence between Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslim Rohingyas, which has tested Myanmar’s 15-month-old government.
“We hope ceasefire agreements will lead to political settlements founded on the aspirations of the people, and the spirit of union,” she said.
“My party, the National League for Democracy, and I stand ready and willing to play any role in the process of national reconciliation,” said Suu Kyi.
In Brussels, the EU hailed a pledge by Suu Kyi to keep up her Nobel prize-winning struggle for democracy, while dangling all sorts of new possibilities for Myanmar if it reforms further.
As she finally delivered her acceptance speech in Oslo, the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, hailed her “extraordinary achievements” that “gave hope to millions.”
“Unthinkable only a few years ago,” Barroso said her vision had given birth to “a country that is opening up to the world and embarking on a journey towards more democracy and more development.”
Suu Kyi said “often during my days of house arrest it felt as though I were no longer a part of the real world”.
“For me receiving the Nobel Peace Prize means personally extending my concerns for democracy and human rights beyond national borders,” said Suu Kyi. “The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart”.
The veteran activist also said she encouraged “cautious optimism” in her country’s transition from military rule towards democracy under the quasi-civilian government of ex-general President Thein Sein.
“If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith,” she said.
Also on Saturday, Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland welcomed 1991 Peace Price laureate Suu Kyi and said he wished China’s jailed 2010 recipient Liu Xiaobo could also come to Oslo.
More than two decades after she was awarded the prize, “Aung San Suu Kyi is finally here,” he said in a speech for the Myanmar democracy champion. “We hope that Liu Xiaobo will not have to wait as long as she has had to before he can come to Oslo.”
Agencies
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