Friday, October 12, 2012

ABSDF leaders to speak in Bangkok

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Friday, 12 October 2012 13:15 Mizzima News

Former leaders of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) will speak about their recent return to Burma as part of their “Peace Mission to the Motherland” at 10 a.m. on Monday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.

Former ABSDF leaders in the United States formed a group called "Peace Mission in the Motherland" and returned to their homeland last year to observe how Burma has changed.

The former ABSDF members met with government ministers, NLD leaders, 88 Generation students, New Wave generation members, Student Union leaders, labor groups, farmers and ethnic groups. They also visited flooded areas in the delta region and areas of conflict in Kachin State and Shan State and meet with local people and grassroots organizations.

The will discuss the changes and what’s need now in the area of civil rights, developing a sound economic system and the rule of law.

Panel members are Htun Aung Gyaw , Moe Thee Zun, Mu Tha, Ko Ko Lay and Yin Aye, who have been living in exile since 1988.

Htun Aung Gyaw was a prominent student leader in the 1974 U Thant Uprising. Sentenced to life in prison in 1975 for his involvement in two student movements, he was released in 1980 under a general amnesty. He was elected as the first chairman of ABSDF in 1988 on the Thai-Burma Border, before resettling in the US in 1992.

Moe Thee Zun was a prominent student leader in 1988. After the military coup, he formed a student-based political group called the “Democratic Party for New Society” which became the second largest party after the NLD. He went underground in 1989 and was elected as the second chairman of the ABSDF. He resettled in the USA in 2006.

Ko Ko Lay, another student leader in the 88 uprising, was elected as the ABSDF's Information Secretary in the same year. He resettled in San Francisco in 1993.

Mu Tha was an activist in 1988 and became a member of the ABSDF when it was formed. He was one of the camp leaders at Three Pagodas Pass. He resettled in the USA in 1996.

Yin Aye was a student activist in 1988 who left the country after the military coup and became a member of the ABSDF at the Three Pagodas camp. He now lives in Maryland.

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