Presidential Office Union Minister, General (Retd) Aung Min, the attended the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the 8888 Uprising held at the Myanmar Convention Centre (MCC) in Yangon on August 7. He signed a memorandum pledging his support for the campaign to free political prisoners (PPs), after refusing to acknowledge political prisoners for many years.
The function was attended by about 3000 people comprising ethnic nationalities, political parties, veteran politicians and activists.
There were more than 2000 political prisoners before the general election in the year 2000. However, President Thein Sein, Cabinet Minister Aung Min and Lower House Speaker Shwe Mahn declined to acknowledge that they were political prisoners. They were referred to as 'prisoners of conscience' in their interactions with media persons.
In a televised nationwide address delivered on August 1, 2013, President Thein Sein referred to them as political prisoners for the first time. He pledged to release all of them before the end of the year.
After President Thein Sein's address, Minister Aung Min followed suit and signed the petition to free political prisoners.
Political prisoners have been released on ten occasions from 2010 to 2013 by Presidential executive orders. The Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP-B) said that there are still more than 100 PPs behind bars.
Minister Aung Min who is also the Vice Chairman of the Union Peace-making Work Committee, briefed people attending the Silver Jubilee function on his peace-keeping endeavors.
He said, “The process we are fostering is to get involved with people's lives. It is important and we have made a huge gamble. Our peace process will not stop at the ceasefire stage, but proceed to peace talks stage.”
"If we can accept the aspirations of all our ethnic peoples, most of our problems will be resolved. We have already negotiated this issue in detail. After implementing ceasefire agreements, all remaining issues will be incorporated in the future peace process,” he added.
The Silver Jubilee celebration of the 8888 Uprising was held from August 6-8. Photographs and records of PPs were exhibited during the event. Discussions were also held on a wide range of issues such as ethnicity, internal peace and the future of federal union. Political leaders, ethnic nationalities and party leaders took active part in the discussions.
