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Indonesia invites Burmese MPs to Independence Day celebration |
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by Solomon
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 22:07 |
New Delhi - In an act of recognition, Indonesia has invited five Burmese Members of Parliament elected in 1990, to its 63rd Independence Day celebrations to be held on August 15.
"We welcome the invitation and we are happy and proud that the government of Indonesia is extending its invitation to us," said Dr. Tint Swe, an invited Burmese MP, who is based in New Delhi.
The invitation is an act of recognition of Burmese MPs, who have been denied by Burma's military regime from convening the parliament despite being popularly elected by the people to represent them, he said.
"We feel that the invitation by the largest ASEAN democracy, Indonesia is a recognition of the 1990 election results, which is very important," said Tint Swe, who now serves as the Minister for the Prime Minister's Office of the Burmese government in exile, the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB).
Besides Dr. Tint Swe, four other MPs - Teddy Buri, Thein Oo, Win Hlaing, and Dr. Sann Aung – have been invited by HR Agung Laksono, Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, to attend the country's independence day ceremony.
The Burmese MPs said, as much as Indonesia recognizes them in respect of the popular choice of the Burmese people, they would like to see the legislators from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations do the same and support the Burmese peoples' struggle for democracy.
The Burmese MPs said, after attending the Indonesian Independence Day celebrations, they would fly to Singapore to meet leaders of the Asian Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and urge them to stop allowing the Burmese junta to send fake MPs to represent the group.
Tint Swe said, they will challenge the legitimacy of the Burmese government's representatives to the AIPA, and urge the group to allow them in place of the junta's representatives.
"There are no legally elected MPs from Burma, so we should be there instead of them because we are elected MPs," Tint Swe said.
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