Views

• Daw Aung San Suu Kyi • Dr.Sein Win • others Printable Version

"I think the case of Burma has become widely known because people outside Burma have cared enough." - May 12, 1999

A conference on peace is tantamount to a conference on one of the basic necessities of life. In fact one could say that peace is life itself because a life without peace is hardly a life worth living. But by peace I do not mean a life of passivity, I do not mean a life without action because sometimes we have to act a lot to bring about peace. What do we mean actually by peace? I suppose basically we mean a sense of inner security that will give us the strength to work for others and for the community, to work for progress and development. Without a sense of inner security we cannot work for progress.

There are so many obstacles in the way of development without peace. Peace, development and justice are all connected to each other. We cannot talk about economic development without talking about peace. How can we expect economic development in a battle field? It would not be possible. But there are more than one kind of battle field in this world. A battle field is not necessarily a place where people are shooting each other. In a civil society, where basic human rights are ignored, where the rights of the people are violated every day, it is like a battle field where lives are lost and people are crippled, because people can lose their lives. And the development of their lives can be crippled by a lack of basic human rights. So when we talk about peace, we can not avoid talking about basic human rights, especially in a country like Burma where people are troubled constantly by a lack of human rights and a lack of justice and a lack of peace.

In our country, there are many races living together, but we have not been able to live together in peace because the situation does not exist where we can trust each other. So trust is a basic element for peace. Unless we can trust each other, unless we can be sure that we will receive justice, and that we also have to give justice, we can not achieve peace. I very much hope that this conference on peace will deal with the close connection between peace, justice and development, and that development will be seen in human rather than in economic terms.

I wish you all success and I hope that the day will come when Burma will be able to contribute to more peace in this world.