Message from His Excellency Duwa Lashi La, Acting President of the National Unity Government, on the Occasion of the 37th Anniversary Commemorating the Martyrdom of Ko Phone Maw and Ko Soe Naing
The pro-democracy uprising of 1988, wherein monks, laity, students, and citizens alike made immeasurable sacrifices of life and limb in pursuit of freedom and democratic governance, culminated in the cessation of a twenty-six year period of one-party rule, thereby establishing a momentous historical precedent. This date marks the thirty-seventh anniversary of the sacrifice of student leaders Ko Phone Maw and Ko Soe Naing, among the earliest martyrs to lay down their lives in the establishment of that precedent.
From the crucible of the 1988 Uprising to the present Spring Revolution, the students and people of Myanmar have offered up a prodigious measure of blood, sweat, and tears. By steadfastly remembering the tragedies of our past, and by honoring those whose sacrifices paved the way for our present struggles, we may rededicate ourselves to the unwavering pursuit of the total eradication of military dictatorship, the comprehensive realization of human rights, and the establishment of liberty within a framework of federal democracy.
This revolutionary spirit, borne and transmitted across epochs and generations, now finds itself poised to achieve its ultimate objective: the definitive cessation of military dictatorship and the construction of a Federal Democratic Union founded upon national equality, a vision to which all students and citizens aspire.
It is with profound respect that I offer my humble homage to all those heroic martyrs, including Ko Phone Maw and Ko Soe Naing, who, throughout the annals of Burmese history, have sacrificed their lives, their blood, and their efforts in the various struggles for democratic governance.
To ensure that the value of each sacrifice is met with a commensurate victory, and to ensure that no form of autocratic rule ever again gains ascendancy in Myanmar, I earnestly implore all revolutionary forces, all ethnic nationalities, and the entirety of the student populace to unite and engage in steadfast and concerted struggle. With this exhortation, I submit this message.
Duwa Lashi La
Acting PresidentNational Unity Government
