YANGON, April 1 – Myanmar President U Thein Sein on Monday urged the country’s people, including monks and nuns, to assist the government in promoting peace and stability, the rule of law and democracy, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. In his monthly regular radio speech to the nation amid riots in the country, the president said he is firmly committed to using the power vested in him by the constitution and existing laws to protect and defend life, liberty and
property of all citizens.
“Some of our citizens, instead of solving the problems they encountered lawfully, resorted to violent and unlawful means that involve terrorist acts, murder and arson. Such actions have denigrated the image of the country in the eyes of the international community,” he blamed.
“Whenever such problems occur, we might not be able to solve them internally anymore, they could become regional or international problems,” he pointed out, warning that “this could seriously hurt the country’s reputation and cost many
development opportunities.”
“If our young democracy experienced such violent political storm frequently, its democratic development would be seriously hampered,” he added.
He also stressed the important role of the armed forces in democratic transition by cooperating with the people, saying that the armed forces will use its good institutional tradition and attributes gained from its experience as strength in the transition process.
BERNAMA
