New Year Message from Aung San Suu Kyi

Text of New Year Message from Aung San Suu Kyi to be presented by "Democracy and Rights 2000" at a rally in Hong Kong on 31st December

What are we going to be thinking of as the clock strikes midnight on the 31st of December 1999? That will be the last year of the 20th century and we are going to enter the 21st century. We will all be thinking our different thoughts, thinking of what we think might happen in the new year and what we wish might happen. I hope that we are all wishing for peace and for happiness, for greater friendship and for greater understanding. In the end there is not very much that we can wish for. If you ask people anywhere in the world what they want, apart from the very personal such as a new house or a new car or doing well in the examinations, I think most people would say the same things that they would like a peaceful life, they would like a happy life, they would like greater security, they would like greater freedom, they would like to be free from want and from fear. I think for me that is the great hope for the millennium, that we must be free from want and fear, not just the people of Burma but people all over the world.

Want and fear are two of the greatest enemies that we have to contend with from day to day. In a country like Burma where we have been crushed under the military regime for many, many years, want and fear stalk us all the time. People wake up in the morning wondering which of their friends have been taken into detention by the authorities. People wake up in the morning wondering where the next meal is going to come from. They wake up in the morning wondering what the future of their children will be and worrying about it. Want and fear go together where there are no human rights and where there is no justice. We would like justice, human rights, and peace to spread all over the world that the people everywhere might live free from fear and from want.

In Asia, where so many of us believe in such high ideals, there's still a great need, a very, very great need for understanding the basic human factors that make human life acceptable. I sometimes think that Asians are too hard on ourselves as human beings. I think there is a lack of compassion, which is a great pity and a great surprise because Buddhism was born in Asia and Buddhism is the great religion of compassion. But yet compassion is a very basic ingredient in all religions. For this reason I hope that as we approach the year 2000, we will increase compassion all over the world.

In our struggle for democracy and human rights, we would like greater support from our fellow Asians. We would especially like the Japanese people to take a strong stand in the battle for democracy. Japan is one of the strongest economies in the world and it is a democracy. It is certainly the richest Asian country. As a richest Asian country and as a democracy Japan has a duty to try to promote human rights and democracy in other parts of Asia.

We hope that the year 2000 will see a blossoming of Japanese interest in human rights and democracy. I also hope the year 2000 will be a year of great happiness for the people of Hong Kong where I understand this tape is going to be played. I feel great affection for Hong Kong because so many of my friends are there and we have always known of it as a dynamic little corner of the earth known to the rest of the world for their achievements. What you have achieved in the field of economics, I'm sure you'll be able to achieve in the field of humanity as well. I wish you well in the year 2000 and I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to you. Thank you.

Aung San Suu Kyi