ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္၏ မိန္႕ခြန္း (29.9.2017)

ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ မိန္႔ခြန္း
English Transcript
Excellencies and distinguished guests.
last year when I addressed the United Nations General Assembly, as a representative of the newly established government of Myanmar, I reaffirmed our faith and confidence in the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations.
It is in this enduring belief in the capacity of nations to unite to build a more peaceful and prosperous world, a kinder more compassionate home for all mankind that we wish to share with members of the international community, the challenges that a country is now facing and the steps that we are taking to overcome them.
This year as I shall not be able to travel to New York to the General Assembly, I have arranged this diplomatic briefing.
When our people voted for the National League of democracy in the elections of 2015, they in fact entrusted to us, the task of carrying out 3 responsibilities.
Democratic Transition
peace and stability and
development
none of these challenges are either easy or simple. Transition for us is a transition to democracy after half a century or more of authoritarian rule.
And now we're in the process of nurturing our nascent and yet imperfect democracy.
Peace and stability was something that we had to achieve after nearly 70 years of internal conflict that started on the day of our independence back in 1948.
And development has to be achieved within the context of the first two.
Nurturing democratic values, establishing peace and stability and achieving the kind of sustainable development that would be seen as equitable by all our peoples.
Burma is a complex nation as all of you knew.
And its complexities are compounded by the fact that people expect us to overcome all these challenges in a short time as possible.
I think it is only fitting that I should remind you that today that our government has not yet been in power for even 18 months.
It will be 18 months at the end of this year. 18 months is a very short time in which to expect us to meet and overcome all the challenges that we have been expected to do.
This does not mean that we are not ready to go on with our task of overcoming these challenges.
because I believe in the community of nations.
I am prepared to share with all our friends who wishes well and who understand our problems and sympathise with us what we have been doing to achieve democratic transition peace and stability and development.
I’m aware of the fact that the world's attention is focused on the situation in Rakhine State.
And as I said at the General Assembly last year as a responsible member of the community of nations nehemiah does not fear international scrutiny and we are committed to a sustainable solution that would lead to peace stability and development for all communities within that state.
I then went on to last year to give a brief outline of our plans to achieve this end.
Unhappily on 9th October 18 days after the delivery of my address of the General Assembly three police outposts were attacked by armed Muslim groups.
There were further attacks on 11th October and 12 November and these clashes resulted in loss of lives injuries burning of villages and the displacement of peoples in the affected areas.
Many Muslims fled to Bangladesh, since then the government has been making every effort to restore peace and stability and to promote harmony between the Muslim and recurring communities.
Even before these outbreaks took place, we had established a Central Committee for rule of law and development in the Rakhine and invited dr. Kofi Annan to lead a commission that would help us to resolve the long-standing problems of that state.
But in spite of all these efforts we were not able to prevent the conflicts from taking place.
Still throughout the last year we have continued with our program of development and the establishment of peace and harmony.
After several months of seemingly quiet and peace, on the 25th of August, 30 police outposts as well as the regimental headquarters in *** village, were attacked by armed groups.
Consequent to these, attacks the government declared the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and its supporters, responsible for acts of terrorism, as a terrorist group in accordance with the counterterrorism law, Section five, section six subsection five.
There has been much concern around the world with regard to the situation in Rakhine.
It is not the intention of the Myanmar government to apportion blame or to abnegate responsibility.
We condemn all human rights violations and unlawful violence.
We are committed to the restoration of peace stability and rule of law throughout the state.
The security forces have been instructed to attend strictly to the code of conduct and carrying out security operations to exercise all due restraint and to take full measures to avoid collateral damage and the harming of innocent civilians.
Human rights violations and all other acts that impair stability and harmony and undermine the rule of law will be addressed in accordance with strict norms of justice.
We feel deeply for the suffering of all the people who have been caught up in the conflict.
Those who have had to flee their homes are many.
not just Muslims and Rakhine.
but also small minority groups such as, the dinette, Muro, thet, marama gyi and Hindus of whose presence most of the world is totally unaware.
Humanitarian assistance is provided to displace community communities by team led by the Minister of Social Welfare relief and resettlement from 27 August onwards.
Details of humanitarian assistance programs will be made available to all our guests in due course.
The final report of the advisory Commission on recline state chaired by dr. Kofi Annan was made public on 25th August.
In fact the very day on which the last round of attacks took place.
We are determined to implement the recommendations of those of the Commission.
Those recommendations that will bring speedy improvement to the situation within a short frame of time will be given priority.
Other recommendations we will have to take time over but every single recommendation that will benefit peace and harmony and development in the Rakhine stage will be implemented within the shortest time possible.
The government is working to restore the situation to normalcy.
Since the 5th of September, there have been no armed clashes and there have been no clearance operations.
Nevertheless we are concerned to hear that numbers of Muslims are fleeing across the border to Bangladesh.
We want to find out why this exodus is happening.
We would like to talk to those who have fled as well as to those who have stayed.
I think it is very little known that the great majority of Muslims in the Rakhine State have not joined the exodus.
More than 50% of the villages of Muslims are intact. they are as they were before the attacks took place.
and we would like to know why.
This is what I think we have to work towards.
not just looking at the problems but also looking at those areas where there are no problems.
Why have we been able to avoid these problems in certain areas?
And for this reason we would like to invite the members of our diplomatic community to join us in our endeavor to learn more from the Muslims who have integrated successfully into the Rakhine State.
If you are interested in joining us in our endeavors, please let us know we can arrange for you to visit these areas and to ask them for yourself.
Why we have not fled. why they have chosen to remain in their villages. even at a time when everything around them seems to be in a state of turmoil.
Apart from what we are doing in the matter of alaying the fears of our people, I would like to say that we have been continuing with our ocial economic development programs in Rakhine.
let me outline a few of them.
The Rakhine State socio-economic development plan 2017 to 2021 has been drafted to boost regional development in various sectors.
Hundreds of new jobs and opportunities have been created for local people through private public partnerships.
The viability of a new special economic zone to bring new jobs and businesses is been assessed.
In terms of infrastructure development, electrification has been expanded with new roads and bridges built including a new highway connecting remote areas previously only accessible by boats.
All people living in the Rakhine state have access to education and health care services without discrimination.
Healthcare services are being provided throughout the state including hard-to-reach areas with new mobile clinics.
The government has upgraded 300 schools in Rakhine.
The vocational and technical training programs have begun.
Muslim students also have access to higher education without any discrimination.
Humanitarian aid reach all communities in 95% of the affected areas before the recent attacks on August 25th.
We are now starting another round of humanitarian aid endeavor which we hope will take care of all the peoples in the region
With regard to IDPs three camps have been closed and the necessary assistance provided including the building of new houses.
There is more to do in that area. we are aware of the challenges and we are facing them.
With regard to citizenship a strategy with specific timeline has been developed to move forward the national verification process.
but this is a process which needs cooperation from all communities.
In some Muslim communities, their leaders have decided that they are not to join in the verification process.
We would appreciate it if all friends could persuade them to join in the process because they have nothing to lose by it.
We are also trying to promote inter-communal religious harmony by engaging interfaith groups.
A new curriculum is to be introduced in schools with a focus on morals, civic ideas and peace and stability.
A new FM radio channel has been set up to provide information on among others health care, national verification process and education to all communities.
A broadcast in Rakhine, Bengali and Myanmar languages.
The training and capacity building for police and security forces are been provided in cooperation with the EU and the United Nations agencies.
Since December 2016 local and foreign media groups have been given access to areas previously off-limit in Rakhine.
Even after the outbreaks on the 25th August, we arranged for several media groups to visit the afflicted areas.
The government isworking hard to enhance existing relations of Bangladesh.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the National Security Advisor visited Bangladesh in January and July of this year.
We were also hoping for a visit from the home minister of Bangladesh but it had to be postponed for reasons of I think other commitments on the part of the minister.
But we will welcome him at any time that he is able to come and we hope to take forward the arrangements with regard to the security of the border which we are trying to implement together.
There has been a call for the repatriation of refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
We are prepared to start the verification process at any time. a verification process was set up as early as 1993 and based on the principles to which both countries agreed at this time. we can continue with the verification of those refugees who wish to return to Myanmar.
We will abide by the criteria that was agreed on at that time and as our national security adviser has assured Bangladesh and which I can confirm now, we are ready to start the verification process at any time and those who have been verified as refugees from this country will be accepted without any problems and with full assurance of the security and their access to home humanitarian aid.
I understand that many of our friends throughout the world are concerned by reports of villagers been burned and of hordes of refugees fleeing.
As I said earlier there have been no conflict since the 5th of September and no clearance operations.
We too are concerned. we want to find out what the real problems are.
There have been allegations and counter allegations and we have to listen to all of them and we have to make sure that these allegations are based on solid evidence before we take action.
Action will be taken against all peoples regardless of their religion, race or political position who go against the laws of the land and who violate human rights as accepted by our international community.
We have never been soft on human rights in this country.
Our government has emerged as a body committed to the defense of human rights. not of any particular communities rights but of the rights of all human beings within the borders of our country.
As we concentrate on problems in the Rakhine State I would also like to take the opportunity to remind you that there are problems as serious for us as what is happening in the west of our country.
We have been trying to build peace out of internal strife, a peace that must be lasting and that must be accompanied by sustainable and equitable development.
We would like to invite you to take part in this peace process to join us in finding lasting solutions to the problems that have played our country for years.
The peace process that we started last year in August is continuing and we are having many difficulties.
I am not surprised by this because it is the way of peace process anywhere processes anywhere in the world that they come across difficulties and sometimes the processes stop, sometimes they come to a dead halt and sometimes it seems as though everything were falling apart and yet in the end we all gather together and move forward.
because all of what are us basically want peace rather than war. we went harmony rather than conflict.
and this is the aspiration shared by all our people.
peace stability harmony and progress
it is not a large agenda but it is a difficult one. and as we go forward in our efforts to redress the ills of this nation I would like to ask our friends who understand and sympathize with both our aspirations and our problems to join us.
We would like to join us in a positive constructive way to find new paths towards peace and stability to its harmony.
We would like you to think of our country as a whole. not just as little afflicted areas.
It is as a whole only that we can make progress.
I would like to use the analogy of a healthy human being.
a healthy human being has to be healthy all over.
You cannot neglect his general health just to concentrate on one particular ill.
I uses an analogy because our sector is one which has made the greatest progress since we came into the administration last year.
By concentrating on public health, we have found that other health problems can also be better addressed.
For example within one year deaths from HIV were halved not because we are concentrating just on hiv/aids but because we were concentrating on public health as a whole.
the health of all our people and all our communities.
This is how I would like you to look at our country.
We are young and fragile democracy facing many problems.
But we have to cope with them all at the same time in the way that we have to cope with all our health problems at the same time
We cannot just concentrate on a few
I would like you to join us in finding new ways new answers more constructive more positive more innovative and possibly more daring.
If we cannot resolve our problems quickly it does not mean that we are never going to be able to resolve them
It just means that the suffering of our peoples is extended.
We would like to bring an end to the sufferings of our peoples as quickly as possible.
We would like to make our country a nation within whose borders everybody can live in security and in prosperity.
This is a large order. this is a big ambition.
But it is not one impossible to fulfill
We all have to join together. I accept that the drill responsibility lies with us the people of this country
All the people of Myanmar from the government to each and every single individual within this country has a responsibility for the development and the progress of this country.
But we would like our friends to join us in our great endeavor
This is certainly a big endeavor and ambitious endeavor
A determination to build out of a country beset by many problems a state that is healthy that is strong that can look forward to a secure future
It is sad that in meeting our diplomatic community, I’m obliged to focus just on a very few of our problems when there are so many which I think we could resolve together.
That is why I'm opening the door to all over all of you who wish to join us in our endeavors
We invite you to join us to talk to us to discuss with us to go with us through the trouble areas where we can guarantee security for you because we don't want the added problems of anything happening to any of you
And we would like you to join us there see for yourself what is happening and think for yourself what can we do to remove these problems
And also I want you to take special care to study the peaceful areas
How have they managed to keep the peace
How have they managed to preserve harmony
Why are they not at each other's throats in these particular areas
This is the answer that we need
It is not just a matter of removing ills but also of promoting what is positive
We have to remove the negative and increase the positive
And we would like to do that together with all of you
as you are probably aware our Minister for resettlement and rehabilitation is leading our humanitarian assistance program
We are very happy that the international community of the Red Cross is joining us in this and we would welcome others who would like to aid us in our endeavors
Many have already committed to help us by donating generously in cash as well as in-kind
and we will make sure that everything that they give towards the promotion of peace and harmony in the Rakhine is used in the best possible way to benefit all communities
We don't want Myanmar to be a nation divided by religious beliefs or ethnicity or political ideology.
We all have the right to our diverse identities and we all have the right to strive to fulfill our lives in the ways in which we believe our right
but we also have to work together because we belong to one nation and as we belong to one nation we also belong to this world
It is for this reason that we put great importance replace great importance on the role of the United Nations as an assembly of Nations which was created to promote peace and harmony to ensure that our world should not ever again in future fall into the suffering that we all experienced during the Second World War
It was with the intention of putting an end to Wars that is to say putting an end to conflicts that the United Nations was established
and I would like to think that what we are doing here today may be the beginning of a truly strong and effective movement to bring an end to all the conflicts within Myanmar
the conflicts between our communities between our peoples and also the conflict of ideas with regard to how we are to go forward
but conflicts of ideas can be sorted out
can be removed through discussion and dialogue and through open-minded and the generous generosity and courage that enables us to see other people's point of view
and what I would also like to say the generosity and courage that would enable other people to see our point of view as well
It is by cooperating only that our world can go forward
By attacking each other either in words or with weapons or even with emotions will not help us
Hate and fear are the main scourges of our world
All conflict arise either out of hate out of fear
It is only by removing the sources of hate and fear that we shall be able to remove conflict from our country and from our world
As you know there are many allegations and counter allegation, i have not gone into any of them because it is not my purpose to promote and encourage conflict weather of ideas or of arms but to try to promote harmony and understanding
I hope you will understand us and join us in our endeavor
as I said earlier this is a diplomatic briefing
This was intended to keep the members of our diplomatic community the representatives of our friends from all over the world in touch with what we are trying to do
But in some ways it is more than just a diplomatic briefing
It is a friendly appeal to all those who wish them well
A friendly appeal to help us to achieve the ends that I think you would agree are desirable not just for this particular country but for countries all over the world
Thank you
Daw Aung San Su Kyi
မူရင္းတင္သူကို ခရက္ဒစ္ေပးပါတယ္