Suu Kyi airs concerns over water crisis

Suu Kyi airs concerns over water crisis
Saturday, 15 May 2010 01:22 Salai Han Thar San

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi voiced concerns over the water crisis facing the country yesterday and urged her National League for Democracy party to do more to help the people.

The Nobel Peace laureate’s comments came during a two-hour meeting with her lawyers Kyi Win and Nyan Win from 1 p.m. at her residence.

“She [Aung San Suu Kyi] is deeply concerned over the water crisis currently being faced by the people,” Nyan Win told Mizzima. “She asked us to expand our [NLD’s] assistance programmes to give those affected as much as we can”.

Since the end of last month, dry wells and ponds in Rangoon, Pegu, Sagaing, Magwe, Irrawaddy divisions and Arakan (Rakhine), Mon and Shan states have forced tens of thousands of villagers to rely on donated water for drinking and hygiene needs.

Earlier reports said that a late monsoon and very high daytime temperatures were at the heart of the problem that had left at least 180 villages in urgent need of water supplies.

NLD women’s wing members led by Dr. May Win Myint donated 1,100 20-litre drinking water bottles on Tuesday to more than 60 villages in Pegu, Waw, Thanatpin, Kawa, Daik Oo in the eastern Pegu Division, one of the regions hardest hit by the crisis.

The meeting also covered party social-work issues. “She told us the NLD party would never diminish among members and the people so we needed to study all procedures for social welfare programmes to make them more effective”, lawyer Nyan Win said.

Also discussed were the seven grounds that form the basis of her special appeal to the Supreme Court against the 18-month extension of the house arrest imposed on her over the uninvited visit last year of American John Yettaw to Suu Kyi’s crumbling lakeside villa. The grounds had to be presented to the court for it to assess their admissibility.

Meanwhile, she also called the forming of the breakaway National Democratic Force party by renegade party leaders undemocratic as they had failed to follow the principle of the minority following the wishes of the majority, Nyan Win said.

“She told us that in democratic principle, a minority must abide by and respect a decision reached by a majority. ‘They are acting against the majority decision simply because, as the minority, they do not agree … This is undemocratic’,” he added, quoting Suu Kyi.