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US Senate mulls top honor for Myanmar's Suu Kyi
AFP
Published: Wednesday February 13, 2008
A bipartisan bill was introduced in the US Senate Wednesday to confer on
Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi the highest civilian award
bestowed by the US Congress.
The bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the leader of the
National
League for Democracy (NLD), currently under house arrest in Yangon, has
the
sup****t of at least 73 senators, including presidential frontrunners
Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama of the Democratic party and Republican John
McCain.
"This Congressional Gold Medal will not only honor the life and legacy of
this remarkable woman, it will also demonstrate to the world that her
cause
is our cause: a free and democratic Burma (Myanmar)," said Democratic
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who jointly introduced the bill with Republican
Mitch McConnell.
"Her vision of democracy, peace and hope resonates throughout Burma and
around the world," she said.
The medal has also been given to such diverse individuals as Sir Winston
Churchill, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai
Lama.
McConnell said that by proposing the medal for Aung San Suu Kyi, US
lawmakers were letting Myanmar's ruling military junta know that Americans
would continue to speak out in favor of meaningful reform in her country.
"Her cause is our cause," he said.
The US House of Representatives has unanimously adopted similar
legislation.
Under the rules, congressional gold medals require the sup****t of at least
two-thirds of the members of both the Senate and House of Representatives
before they can be signed into law by the president.
"Aung San Suu Kyi is a giant for human rights and democracy, and we hope
this award will strengthen her efforts even further," said Aung Din,
executive director of the Wa****ngton-based US Campaign for Burma and an
ex-Myanmar political prisoner.
Myanmar's military regime has ignored calls by the international community
and the NLD for democratic reforms, including the release of Aung San Suu
Kyi, who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest.
There are about 1,800 other political prisoners believed held in the
country.
Protests against an unannounced hike in fuel prices in August last year
snowballed into the biggest challenge to military rule since 1988.
With more than 100,000 people in the streets, security forces launched a
violent crackdown in late September that left, according to UN estimates,
at
least 31 dead.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_Senate_mulls_top_honor_for_Myanm_02132008.html
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