Paying
Tribute to Dr. Cynthia Maung
On June 5,
2003, the House of Commons paid tribute
to Dr. Cynthia Maung and the work she has
done in Burma. Larry Bagnell, MP (Yukon)
read a statement about Dr. Maung and the
Speaker of the House recognized her presence
in the Gallery.
FROM HANSARD:
Mr. Larry
Bagnell (Yukon, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, in respect
of Dr. Cynthia Maung, who joins us in Ottawa
today, I stand before the House to bring
to the attention of my fellow colleagues
the shameful situation in Myanmar or as
most people prefer to call it, Burma.
In 1948
Burma was one of Asia's most promising young
democracies, buttressed by a growing free
market and well educated population. Today
it is Asia's most backward country. It is
a police state, ruled by a medieval military
dictatorship, plagued by five violent insurgencies.
Consequently, the majority of its population
languishes in abject poverty.
This past
weekend, Burma's ruling junta attacked the
convoy of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel prize
laureate and winner of Burma's last free
election. Between 70 and 100 pro-democracy
activists may well have been murdered. Aung
San Suu Kyi was arrested with 19 of her
colleagues and has not been seen since.
There are reports she has been seriously
injured and there are rumours she may have
been killed.
Enough is
enough with this regime. It has pillaged
Burma and its people for too long while
playing the rest of us for fools. Canada
has rightly cut off most of its ties with
that government. Following this shameful
display on the weekend, we and our allies
must, with one voice, tell Burma's generals
this will not stand.
The Speaker:
I wish to draw to the attention of hon.
members the presence in the gallery of Dr.
Cynthia Maung of Myanmar.
Dr. Maung
operates a hospital on the Thailand-Myanmar
border where she provides critical health
care services to thousands of refugees from
her country.
Some hon.
members: Hear, hear.
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