Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy leader in Myanmar, will visit Honolulu next week to receive an award from Rotary International and meet with young people from here and across the globe.
"We are a part of history here in Hawaii because we are able to have this woman come here," said Nancy Pace, president of the Rotary Club of Honolulu. "She has only visited the United States one other time. It’s an amazing opportunity.
SEE NOBEL WINNER SPEAK
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar will visit Hawaii next week. The public can view one event online and buy tickets for her dinner speech to see her in person.
Jan. 26
>> 10:15 a.m. Pillars of Peace Hawai‘i “Peace Takes Courage and Compassion” speech, plus a question-and-answer session with Hawaii high school students. The event will be streamed live and can be played back at www.pillarsofpeacehawaii.org.
>> 6 p.m. Rotary Global Peace Forum Hawaii celebration dinner, keynote speech and Hawaii Peace Award, Hawai‘i Convention Center. Individual tickets are $200 and must be purchased by Sunday at www.peaceforumhawaii.org.
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"She is committed to sharing her knowledge with the next generation, and it is fitting that she would do this at the Hawaii Peace Forum, where youth and adults from over 30 countries will hear her message of peace."
Suu Kyi, who helped found and now chairs Myanmar’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, spent 15 years under house arrest, off and on, before her release in late 2010. After decades of repressive military rule, the country, also known as Burma, has been easing restrictions on civic life under reformist President Thein Sein.
Suu Kyi was elected in April as a member of Parliament.
In June she finally was able to visit Oslo to give the long-delayed acceptance speech for the Nobel awarded to her in 1991 for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights. She also traveled to Washington, D.C., in September to receive a Congressional Gold Medal that had been awarded four years earlier while she was confined, and met with President Barack Obama at the White House.
Her visit to Hawaii is co-hosted by Rotary International; Pillars of Peace Hawai‘i, a program of the Hawaii Community Foundation; the East-West Center; and the Myanmar Association of Hawaii.
The Rotary Global Peace Forum is being held in three cities heavily affected by World War II "where healing is most visible," starting with Berlin last November, Honolulu this month and Hiroshima in May. The event runs from Friday through Sunday at the Hawai‘i Convention Center and includes workshops to share strategies to promote a more peaceful world, with a focus on youth.
Suu Kyi, 67, will give the keynote speech at the forum’s celebration dinner Saturday and receive the Hawaii Peace Award. Tickets for the dinner are $200, and the registration deadline is Sunday.
She will also give a talk titled "Peace Takes Courage and Compassion" at a Pillars of Peace forum Saturday morning and have a question-and-answer session with isle public and private high school students. Tickets have been distributed through the schools.
"We can learn a great deal from Aung San Suu Kyi and her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights," said Kelvin Taketa, president and CEO of the Hawaii Community Foundation. "At the same time, the Pillars of Peace program creates an opportunity to share with global peace leaders Hawaii’s unique example of multiculturalism to carry with them wherever they go around the world."
The public can watch the student event online through a live stream from the Pillars of Peace website at www.pillarsofpeacehawaii.org. It will also be available for playback.
