Death of Bo Aung San - Burma's Hero
July 19th marks the day Bo Aung San - the father of Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw AUng San Suu Kyi, and the Freedom fighter for Burma - was killed 58 years ago. Daw Suu was not at the ceremony that the Burmese government held.
I know it must have killed her not to be there. I imagine her, holding her arms across her chest, staring stoically out of her window, isolated in her house, not being able to pay respects at her father's grave, the day he was gunned down by fellow Burmese who were paid off by the British government. (I'm sure there's more to it, I'm putting it in too little words)
Suu Kyi's father was fighting for the freedom of Burma. Suu Kyi continues to fight for the freedom that still eludes Burma to this day.
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Suu Kyi absent from Myanmar ceremonies
Unidentified military officers saluting the slain independence heroes at the Mausoleum in Yangon Tuesday July 19 .2005 in a ceremony to commemorate the 58th anniversary Martyr' day . Martyr's day is held annually on July 19 to mark the day when Gen. Aung San who was gunned down along with seven cabinet ministers and two officials on July 19, 1947, six months before Myanmar gained independence from Britain. Absent from the ceremony today was his daughter _ pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who's under house arrest by the military government since 2003. Unidentified military officers saluting the slain independence heroes at the Mausoleum in Yangon Tuesday July 19 .2005 in a ceremony to commemorate the 58th anniversary Martyr' day . Martyr's day is held annually on July 19 to mark the day when Gen. Aung San who was gunned down along with seven cabinet ministers and two officials on July 19, 1947, six months before Myanmar gained independence from Britain. Absent from the ceremony today was his daughter _ pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who's under house arrest by the military government since 2003. (AP Photo)
July 19, 2005
YANGON, Myanmar --Myanmar on Tuesday marked the 58th anniversary of the assassination of independence hero Gen. Aung San, but his daughter, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, didn't attend the ceremonies.
Gen. Aung San was gunned down along with six Cabinet ministers and two officials on July 19, 1947, six months before Myanmar gained independence from Britain.
The anniversary of his death is marked each year as Martyrs' Day at a mausoleum near the capital Yangon's famous Shwedagon pagoda.
But commemorations have been gradually downgraded since Suu Kyi rose to prominence as head of the country's pro-democracy movement following a bloody crackdown by the military against 1988 street protests.
On Tuesday, Culture Minister Maj. Gen. Kyi Aung led the official ceremony, placing flowers at Gen. Aung San's tomb as military buglers played the "Last Post." The national flag was flown at half-staff.
It was the third consecutive year that Suu Kyi has missed laying flowers during the ceremony -- the only official event the country's military rulers had once allowed her to attend during her years of house arrest. Previous occasions were the only time her picture appeared in state media.
The government late Tuesday said that Suu Kyi had been "invited as customary by the authorities to lay a wreath at the tomb."
"She told the authorities that she did not want to attend the ceremony and refused to attend the ceremony," said the announcement on state radio and television, the first time in three years the government has explained Suu Kyi's absence.
Suu Kyi's estranged elder brother, U.S. citizen Aung San Oo, sent a representative on behalf of the family to lay a wreath.
The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent almost 10 of the past 16 years under confinement. Suu Kyi was last detained by the government in May 2003 after her convoy was attacked by a pro-junta mob as she toured northern Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Suu Kyi was also absent from her National League for Democracy party's own ceremony at its Yangon headquarters. The party called for the junta to free the detained leader and other political prisoners.
At its ceremony -- attended by 300 people, including diplomats and student activists -- the NLD also called for the reopening of party offices closed down by the military.
The military government called elections in 1990, but refused to hand power to Suu Kyi's party, which won in a landslide. Instead, it stepped up harassment of NLD members, hundreds of whom have been detained.
Some NLD members who visited the Martyrs' Mausoleum to pay respects to the slain leaders were prohibited from wearing badges bearing images of Gen. Aung San and had to remove their peach-colored jackets, which are the NLD party uniform.
Article obtained Via - Boston.com
