State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is also Chairperson of the Central Committee for Development of Border Areas and National Races, arrived in Khamti Township, Sagaing Region by special flight from Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning.
She was accompanied by Union Ministers Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe, Lt-Gen Ye Aung, U Min Thu, U Ohn Win and Dr. Myint Htwe, Deputy Minister U Hla Maw Oo, and other officials.
The State Counsellor first met with local residents in Khamti sports stadium. In her speech to the people of Khamti, she first thanked the local people of Khamti for welcoming her into their hometown. She said she always tried to build closer relations with the people during her travels.
“Our country is a Union and our Union Spirit requires all of us to be united to swiftly succeed in our objectives and reinforce our strengths. The belief that unity will develop our nation is the same as the Union Spirit,” said the State Counsellor.
She said the diversity of Myanmar was also a source of strength. Facilitating better communication between the different ethnic races would turn differences to sources of strength, said the State Counsellor.
“The citizens of the country have right to see the situation and thoughts of the people who have assumed the duties of the Union Government.
Everyone must take responsibility for their own country. If every citizen fulfils their civic duties then there is nothing to worry about the country’s future,” said the State Counsellor.
She said it was crucial to find out what were the individual duties of each citizen. The main duty of each and every citizen was towards the nation. It was necessary to work to strengthen the nation and bring prosperity, peace and success. The State Counsellor said it was necessary to first fulfil the duties to the nation before duties towards the states or regions could be fulfilled. She said this top-down approach to fulfilling our duties applies from the sub-national level to the township/village level and then to our social circles.
“Right now, we can’t call our country prosperous but there have been noticeable improvements. These developments may or may not have a uniform effect on all the states and regions. But our objective is for national development to bring equal benefit to everyone. We don’t want one place to be prospering while another place is struggling in poverty,” said the State Counsellor.
The State Counsellor said a nation’s main resource was the skills and capabilities of its people. The people must have the required skills to bring prosperity to the country so that it can travel along the correct path towards its objectives.
The State Counsellor said she saw many ethnic people when her plane landed in Khamti. She said it was Khamti’s pride and the pride of the entire Union to have diverse ethnic races living together peacefully.
“There are many different ethnic races in Myanmar with diverse ideologies but this does not mean we cannot live in peace. It is crucial that we peacefully negotiate our different thoughts and ideas. Our Union Government does not believe in violence. We have always believed we can reach our goals through nonviolent means and have never attempted to use violence to achieve our objectives, nor will we ever. We will work hand-in-hand with the people to reach our destination by using peaceful approaches within the boundaries of existing laws,” said the State Counsellor.
“I want our ethnic brothers and sisters to adopt a similar mindset. I want everyone to head steadily towards their goals with hard work, wisdom, and perseverance. I wish to kindly request to foresee the unity of the nation in their future as they move forward peacefully. There are still a lot of development tasks left for the people. We cannot resolve this while holding on to grudges and dissatisfactions. Everyone needs to cooperate in resolving this including the people, civil servants, and government organizations.”
The State Counsellor asked of civil servants working in regions facing difficulties to take pride in serving the nation and to work for the people with kindness in their hearts.
The State Counsellor said, “I want to deeply request our civil servants to not only perform their assigned duties but to also place full kindness on their work for the general public. There needs to be mutual respect between the civil servants and the public. Civil servants must respect the public and the public must respect civil servants. Most of the public have in their minds the civil servants as authoritative and oppressive. I want civil servants to reflect on this. Why are you seen in this way and what can you change to stop people thinking of you like this? On the other hand, the people must also understand the nature of civil servant’s duties.”
The State Counsellor said the our country’s civil servants had less opportunities, lower salaries and income than those from developed countries but the combined efforts were not for any one person’s wealth, it was for the prosperity of the entire nation. She asked of the civil servants to think of their work as bringing prosperity to the nation and similarly asked the public to support the civil servants in correctly performing their duties.
“Our country’s education and healthcare are not at a satisfactory level yet nor unravelling in a way we want them to be. But we are still trying. I have noticed a lot of questions on healthcare and some of them should be answered by the regional government. These questions will be followed up by the Regional Chief Minister and regional ministers,” said the State Counsellor.
Following the State Counsellor’s speech, the local residents submitted various topics for her consideration including reacquiring confiscated lands and receiving compensation lands for losses incurred. The people of Khamti also requested the Union Government to support promotion of the Naga people’s traditions and culture, prioritizing local people in staff appointments, working for people who suffered losses when lands were confiscated to live on remaining land.
State Counsellor holds open talks with locals
They also asked the State Counsellor to address the subject of giving permission to transport timber between Homalin and Khamti, providing education, healthcare and socio-economic development to Nansibon village and ensuring the rule of law, appointing the required teaching staff, supporting subjects in ethnic languages, permitting teachers of ethnic literature to attend trainings, distributing electricity to Khamti, and requesting jade mining companies in Nansibon district to set up signboards informing the public regarding the time period of their mining permits. The Union Ministers, Regional Chief Minister and regional ministers gave explanationsabout what actions would be taken to address these matters.
The State Counsellor said the concerned authorities must know andunderstand how to systematically give back confiscated lands to the people. She said the Union Government was working on policies to provide opportunities for local residents fluent in their region’s languages to attain suitable government positions. She said the administrative officials wereresponsible for ensuring that the Naga people would be able tocontinue their traditional terrace farming. She explained that the regional government wasresponsible for preserving and promoting the regional traditions and customs, and said she has instructed them to work swiftly in accordance with the law.
The State Counsellor then took a documentary photo with the local people and students attending the meeting.Next, the State Counsellor and entourage visited Khamti General Hospital where they gave words of encouragement and gifts to the patients.
Meeting with residents of Lahe
From Khamti, the State Counsellor travelled by helicopter to Lahe Township and met with members of the leading body for Naga Self-Administered Zone, staff, and local residents in the town’s Saramayri Guesthouse.
In her speech, the State Counsellor said people living in remote areas usually have the same requirements. She said roads and transportation were important requirements and the ones in Lahewere improving. She said additional expenditure was needed to address the shortage of teachers and the Union Government has been increasing its education budget. She said the Union Government was working to appoint local residents as education staff and to train teachers in ethnic literature and languages. In addition, the Union Government was fulfilling the skills of healthcare staff and to construct housing for civil servants assigned to remote areas.
Responding to locals’ reports
The local residents submitted their reports and requests which were responded by the Union Ministers and Regional Chief Minister. The State Counsellor also replied to their submissions. She said the PyidaungsuHluttawhad approved of returning confiscated lands to original owners in a decision made in 2013. She said this only applied to lands confiscated after 1988. She said the delays in returning farmlands were either due to confiscators unwilling to relinquish ownership, lengthy bureaucratic procedures, or disagreements in rightful ownership but assured the residents that Vice President U Henry Van Thio was heading all processes related to this.
The State Counsellor said budget had been allotted for supplying sufficient drinking water to Lahe Township. She said unused lands from the confiscated lands would be used for expanding the town. She said officials would begin applying for funding in 2019-2020 FY for upgrading the Lahe-Yanlone road to be accessible all year round. She said this upgrade wasnecessary to establish a Naga trade zone. She said the regional government would assist in setting up a museum for Naga traditions. She said they would appoint local residents to education posts based on their regional language expertise. She then took a documentary photo with everyone in attendance.
Next, the State Counsellor handed over K20 million for regional development, food and other items to the local residents, and they gifted her souvenirs in return.
To Homalin Tsp
The State Counsellor then travelled by special flight to Homalin Township from Khamti. There, she met with local residents in the township’s sports stadium.
At the meeting, the State Counsellor said the Union Government had been prioritizing development for remote regions since taking up office, including Homalin Township. She said people were given rights and responsibilities together. She said the Union Government was working through difficulties to ensure uniform development across the entire country. She said there had been noticeable development in education and healthcare but it was not at a satisfactory level yet. The most valuable resource for the nation was its peopleand the beauty of the country was enhanced from its diverse ethnic races living together, said the State Counsellor.
Homalin residents submit reports, requests
Local residents then voiced their requirements and requests. They requested lesser restrictions on small and medium enterprises to reduce the cost of drafting IEE/EMP (Initial Environmental Examination/Environmental Management Plan). They requested listening to the people’s difficulty related to using mercury in searching for gold. They asked for implementing hydropower to address the high electricity bill in Homalin, constructing a bridge over Chindwin River and roads through Homalin Ward, building an embankment in Homalin port, to fix the silted up creek in Tapataung village, returning confiscated lands, paving a concrete land between Naungpoaung and Nhamtaw, explaining how tax was levied from stalls in Homalin market, to inspect the gold-finding operations in Chaunggyi Creek, upgrading the Homalin-Bamauk road, acquiring silt sediment islands, and inspecting the damaging effects of goldmining on farmlands.
The Regional Chief Minister and officials responded to the submissions from the local residents and the State Counsellor gave suggestions as necessary. She requested the local residents to have trust in the regional government and instructed the government officials to foster better and close relations with the local people to win their trust.—MNA
(Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)
