The Yangon government held the ceremony at Mahabandoola Park for the first time and the government invited the families of BIA and BDA veterans to attend the ceremony. The last time they were invited was 1988.

U Ba Tin, 91 years old, former second lieutenant of the Burmese Defence Army, said he had come from Nay Pyi Taw to attend. He welcomed the invitation from the regional government. “I want the peace process to succeed. The people want peace, and so do the ethnic minorities,” he said.

The regional government also invited the families of the Thirty Comrades who underwent military training in Japan. Two grandsons of the leader of the former military regime General Ne Win, one of the Thirty Comrades, attended yesterday’s 
ceremony.

The leader of the anti-colonial revolution and Communist Party Thakin Soe’s wife Daw Hnin May, now 93, also attended. She said the ceremony marked genuine independence for the country. “We want to meet again at the Independence Monument in years to come. Today’s ceremony showed that our country is moving toward real independence,” she said.

Daw Hnin May criticised the army offensive against ethnic armed groups, calling on the Tatmadaw to change its approach. “The ethnic minorities were born in our country. Why are they called insurgents? This makes me sad,” she said.

Yesterday, nearly 200 people looked on as Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein read a message from President U Htin Kyaw. The president’s message urged people to work in unity for the realisation of the four objectives of the 69th anniversary of Independence Day, including striving for the emergence of appropriate state constitution in accordance with norms of democracy, building a federal democratic state in accordance with the goals of the 21st-Centuary Panglong Conference and striving for the betterment of economic development among regions and states equally in accordance with the objectives of the state’s economic policy.

 

Speaking at an Independence Day ceremony at the National League for Democracy headquarters yesterday, ruling party patron U Tin Oo called on the public to ensure national unity.

“If all citizens including all ethnic groups, soldiers and every other organisation are not united and do not trust each other, the country will not be stable and it will be a very slow and difficult process to continue,” said U Tin Oo. At the end of his speech, he also said that everyone should try to ensure that 2017 is known as the year of peace in Myanmar.

 

Additional reporting by Shoon Naing