[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 81 (Friday, June 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1279-E1280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS LEADER AUNG SAN SUU KYI HONORED

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 17, 2005

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday the world will celebrate the 
60th birthday of Nobel Laureate and Burmese democracy leader Aung San 
Suu Kyi. It's usually not polite to discuss a lady's age--but in this 
case, I'm sure that this feisty fighter known by her supporters simply 
as ``the Lady'' will forgive us, because this occasion provides an 
opportunity to highlight the horrendous human rights situation in 
Burma.
  Today Aung San Suu Kyi is under strict house arrest. Isolated from 
her family, her colleagues, and the Burmese people who so strongly 
support her. Sadly, this is not a new state of affairs. Suu Kyi has 
spent nine of the past 16 years either behind bars or under house 
arrest.
  We must remember that Aung San Suu Kyi is not simply another 
democracy campaigner toiling away in a totalitarian nation--her party 
actually won elections in 1990, only to find the halls of power to be 
locked when she tried to assume the role she had won by right.
  Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiring figure. She could have left Burma 
countless times to rejoin her family, but she refused. Suu Kyi

[[Page E1280]]

would not abandon her people to the ruthless Burmese military goons, 
nor her hope that Burma would someday be a strong, democratic nation 
that respected human rights.
  Sadly, house imprisonment has been the least of Aung San Suu Kyi's 
worries. Two years ago, the Burmese government tried to kill her in an 
ambush of her convoy in rural Burma. Burma's ruling thugs simply 
couldn't stand the fact that she remained enormously popular despite 
years of imprisonment, and was being greeted by throngs of supporters 
everywhere she went.
  We in Congress have not forgotten the cause of human rights in Burma, 
Mr. Speaker. Next week, it is my hope that the House will move forward 
with H.J. Res. 52, my legislation to renew import sanctions against 
Burma for an additional year. Only when the Burmese thugocracy feels 
the economic pinch of their sick rule will change finally come.
  Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, I will be pleased to deliver 6,000 
birthday cards to Aung San Suu Kyi via the Burmese Embassy. I have no 
illusion that they will be delivered, or even that word of this deed 
will be delivered to her. But these good wishes from people across 
America show that the world has not forgotten Aung San Suu Kyi, nor the 
cause for which she fights. One day, Aung San Suu Kyi will finally be 
sworn in as the democratically elected leader of Burma, and it will be 
my great honor to attend her inauguration.