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Burmese on Saipan pray for detained Aung San Suu Kyi
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Posted on May 25 2009
Seven guest workers from Burma held a mini prayer rally Sunday afternoon at the Pacific Islands Club’s beach side in support of political detainee Aung San Suu Kyi.
Wearing t-shirts with printed photographs of Suu Kyi and holding placards, the group spent several minutes praying for Asia’s most prominent female political prisoner.
“She has been in prison for over 13 years. We pray for her freedom. This is the only thing we can do now,’ said Shwe Zin Win, who organized the mini prayer rally.
Shwe said a total of nine Burmese nationals are currently working on Saipan, mostly in hotels and restaurants.
Ohn Khin, a mechanical engineer, was the first to arrive on Saipan and has been here for 20 years. Unfortunately, he could not make it in time for the prayer offerings.
“Some of us are here for 10-15 years,” said Shwe, who worked at Palms Resort for 10 years. She just came from Japan, where she has been staying for the past six years.
The others who attended the prayer rally were Ah Yu Win, Maung San Din, Sein Nyant, Aung Ko Ko Than, Sabe Thin and Zaw Moe.
They prayed that Suu Kyi San will have the strength to overcome her adversities and lead her people to win “our country’s freedom of speech” so that their voice may be heard.
Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma. She won the right to be Burma’s Prime Minister in the last free election in 1990 but the military junta prevented her from assuming that role. She is currently under house arrest.
She is an advocate for non-violent resistance that led to her Nobel Peace Prize award in 1991.
Burma has been renamed Myanmar by the military junta but many governments do not recognize the legitimacy of the name change.
