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Struggle for right to have an EDUCA



Subject: Struggle for right to have an EDUCATION in Burma

 Aung San Suu Kyi wants Australia to broadcast uncensored news to Burma 
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   	SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung
	San Suu Kyi called on Australia to broadcast news to her home
	country in its native language so Burmese could keep in touch with
	the outside world.
   
	She said Burma's military regime has a monopoly on local media
	and that her people are forced to depend on external radio and
	television stations to receive uncensored news.

   	``With its proximity to Burma and with the increasing numbers of
	Burmese on its soil, we hope that Australia will recognize the need
	for disseminating information in the Burmese language on the
	educational, social, economic and political currents sweeping
	across the globe,'' Suu Kyi said.
   
	She made the plea in Sydney via her husband, Dr. Michael Aris,
	who accepted an honorary doctorate from Sydney University of
	Technology on her behalf.
   	Aris read Friday from a speech prepared by his wife, the
	democracy campaigner and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
   
	Radio Australia said in a statement that it believes it has a
	big audience in Burma despite the military government's tight
	restrictions on international communications.
   
	Suu Kyi said Australia had been forged out of difficult
	endeavour and had a reputation for being ``tough.''
   	``We expect from you the boldness to stand up and speak for the
	rights of those who are seeking to cast off their shackles,'' she
	said.
   	
	The struggle for democracy in Burma also is a struggle for the
	right to have an education, she said.
   	``The curtailment of the right to develop initiative and to
	exercise freedom of expression has disastrous effects on the future
	of a nation.''
   
210901 Feb GMT