MYANMAR SITUATION CONCERNS GORDON

Senator Richard J. Gordon yesterday expressed extreme concern over the political unrest in Myanmar, a friendly ASEAN neighbor, which led to the detainment of several of its outstanding political leaders including Nobel Peace Prize awardee, Aung San Suu Kyi.

“I worry for her safety and wellbeing in this period of uncertainty in her country. I hope the current political situation in Myanmar will stabilize and that the country will continue on its path to national unity, democracy and prosperity for its people,” he said.

The National League for Democracy party said Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s elected leader, and other senior ruling party figures were detained in morning raids on Monday amid fears of a military coup following a disputed election.

Gordon said he finds Suu Kyi, whom he has met a couple of times in the course of cooperation on humanitarian issues like disaster relief and mitigation, and also on the Rohingya situation, to be a person with a good heart.

During a dinner at the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit held in the Philippines in 2017, Suu Kyi asked Gordon to help the Myanmar Red Cross Society in providing humanitarian assistance to the affected communities in the restive Rakhine State.

Gordon was also asked to lead a high-level humanitarian diplomacy mission in Myanmar in October of the same year.

The delegation, composed of officials from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the MRCS, succeeded in its mission to get Suu Kyi to understand that MRCS, IFRC, and ICRC are one Movement that is an impartial and neutral organization whose only objective is to alleviate human suffering and uplift human dignity.

They also succeeded, among others, in securing the provision of safe and fast access to Rakhine State for the relief goods and personnel of the Movement.