Myanmar's Suu Kyi in historic speech to British Parliament

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi in historic speech to British
parliament
Posted: 22 June 2012 0004 hrs


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Myanmar's opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi attends a news conference with Britain's PM David Cameron in Downing
Street in central London. (AP Photo/Luke MacGregor, Pool)[/TD]
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LONDON: Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday
urged the world to help Myanmar complete its journey towards democracy as she
became the first foreign woman to address both houses of Britain's
parliament.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said it was an "extraordinary
honour" to speak in parliament's Westminster Hall in London, a rare privilege
few foreign dignitaries are afforded.

Since World War II, US President
Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI, South African president Nelson Mandela and
French president Charles de Gaulle are the only other foreigners to have
addressed both houses in the 11th-century hall.

"I am here in part to ask
for practical help, help as a friend and an equal," Suu Kyi told around 2,000
lawmakers and guests, who gave her a standing ovation that echoed around the
cavernous hall.

"Our own determination can get us so far; the support of
the people of Britain and the peoples around the world can get us so much
further," added Suu Kyi, who was wearing a purple longyi skirt and white
scarf.

The opposition leader was freed from nearly two decades of house
arrest in November 2010 and became a lawmaker earlier this year as part of a
gradual transition towards democracy after years of military rule in
Myanmar.

The speech was the climax of her first visit in 24 years to
Britain, where she studied and lived for several years until she answered the
call of duty in Myanmar, leaving her children and her English husband
behind.

Suu Kyi earlier held talks with British Prime Minister David
Cameron at his 10 Downing Street office, and with heir to the throne Prince
Charles and his wife Camilla at their Clarence House official residence, where
she planted a tree in the garden.

Cameron defended his decision to invite
Myanmar President Thein Sein to Britain for talks, given that he was, until last
year, a member of the junta that held Myanmar in its thrall for more than two
decades.

"There is a process of reform in Burma. In order for that to
succeed we have to work with the regime," he told a press conference with Suu
Kyi.

Cameron in April became the first Western leader in decades to visit
Myanmar - a former British colony that was previously known as Burma - during
which he met both Suu Kyi and Thein Sein.

Suu Kyi backed the decision to
invite Thein Sein, saying: "We don't want to be shackled by the past. We want to
use the past to build up the future."

Suu Kyi was only the fifth foreign
dignitary since World War II to address both houses of parliament in Westminster
Hall, and the honour has only ever been given to heads of state in the
past.

Others who addressed both houses - elsewhere in parliament -
include the Dalai Lama, Jacques Chirac, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris
Yeltsin, Kofi Annan, Ronald Reagan, Francois Mitterrand, Haile Salassie and
Nikita Kruschev.

Queen Elizabeth II is the only other woman who has
addressed both houses.

John Bercow, speaker of parliament's lower House
of Commons, called Suu Kyi "the conscience of a country and a heroine for
humanity".

Suu Kyi said that the progress of democracy in Myanmar was
still fragile.

"My country today stands at the start of a journey
towards, I hope, a better future," she said.

She asked for "support for
the reforms which can bring better lives, greater opportunities, to the people
of Burma who have been for so long deprived of their rights and their place in
the world."

On Tuesday, Suu Kyi made an emotional return to Oxford, the
southern English city where she studied, met her late husband Michael Aris and
brought up their two sons.

She said she was deeply moved on Wednesday as
she received an honorary doctorate in civil law. The award was conferred in 1993
but she was unable to collect it at the time, fearing that if she left Myanmar
the junta would not have allowed her to return.

Suu Kyi will head to
France on June 26 for the last leg of her European tour, following a warm
welcomes in Ireland, Norway and Switzerland.

On Saturday, she finally
delivered her Nobel Peace Prize speech in Oslo, 21 years after winning the award
while under house arrest.

Her visit to Britain has been clouded by
continued communal violence in western Myanmar where dozens of people have been
killed and an estimated 90,000 people have fled their homes.

-
AFP/de

 

[makapaaa]

I also can what!

 

[Jumong]

"Suu Kyi was only the fifth foreign dignitary since World War II to address both houses of parliament in Westminster
Hall, and the honour has only ever been given to heads of state in the past.

Others who addressed both houses - elsewhere in parliament - include the Dalai Lama, Jacques Chirac, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Kofi Annan, Ronald Reagan, Francois Mitterrand, Haile Salassie and
Nikita Kruschev."


The sixth foreign dignitary: