detention conscience

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s public address. NLD Headquarters, 14 November 2010.

“I  have to begin by thanking you for your support.

“We haven’t seen each other for a long time but I am happy to see that our mutual faith remains strong, it fortifies me.

“We Burmese blame it all on luck. But do you know what luck means? Luck means you reap what you sow. So if there is anything you want, you have to work to achieve it.

“We cannot simply bribe the people and promise them the impossible (Cheers and applause). We will try hard and pave the road that the people want. We will pave it together and we will take that road together. It’s not right that one person paves the road while the other stands idly by. Speaking of paving roads, maybe I picked an inappropriate analogy (laughter and cheers). It was a slip of the tongue. What I mean is that we will walk the road that leads to the democratic goals. We will walk on it together, we will pave it together. It is only this way, can we reach our goals.

“Don’t wait for others to do it for you.

“I want to tell you not to be dejected.

“Sometimes there may be some things in our country that will make you feel dejected. Surely you must feel that we have not gotten anywhere or that there has been no development (applause).

“But there is no reason to feel dejected. We must strive hard.”