• About
    • Ethics policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ownership, funding and corrections
    • Complaints procedure
    • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
Brighton and Hove News
18 May, 2025
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Opinion
    • Community
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Food and Drink
  • Sport
    • Brighton and Hove Albion
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
Brighton and Hove News
No Result
View All Result
Home Brighton

Councillors revoke former Burmese leader’s freedom of the city

Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of civic honour by unanimous vote

by Sarah Booker-Lewis - local democracy reporter
Thursday 19 Oct, 2023 at 8:38PM
A A
6
Council looks to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi’s freedom of the city

Aung San Suu Kyi

The former Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi no longer has the freedom of the city of Brighton and Hove after a unanimous vote by councillors.

The 78-year-old former State Counsellor of Myanmar – equivalent to a prime minister – was given the freedom of the city in 2011 in recognition of her fight against totalitarianism.

At the time she had already been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the US Congressional Gold Medal during long years spent under house arrest in Burma which now calls itself Myanmar.

Councillors voted to remove the honour because from 2016 to 2021 Aung San Suu Kyi led the country when the Rohingya Muslim community faced what many have described as genocide.

Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey said today (Thursday 19 October) that the freedom of the city was the highest honour that the council could bestow.

At a meeting of the full council, the Labour leader said that Aung San Suu Kyi was the only woman to have received the honour rather than “men from certain socio-economic backgrounds”.

Councillor Sankey said that the council would look at who should receive the honour in the future – and would vote on bestowing the freedom of the city on the woman’s suffrage pioneer Mary Clarke at a special meeting later in the year.

In 2018, the council held a vote to remove the freedom of the city from Aung San Suu Kyi but did not achieve the required two thirds majority.

Councillor Sankey told the meeting at Hove Town Hall: “Aung San Suu Kyi has had the chance to extend her noted defence of civil rights to her Rohingya compatriots but has consistently chosen not to do so and has been seen as complicit in much of what had been happening.”

Labour councillor Mohammed Asaduzzaman said: “Her failure to speak up against the violence inflicted on the Rohingya Muslims is in conflict with our City of Sanctuary values of human rights and democracy here in our city Brighton and Hove.

“It is at odds with the spirit in which this council awarded her this honour. It is in conflict with the hope that we all placed in her for a better future for her country.”

Green councillor Sue Shanks said that it was important that the council reviewed who received the freedom of the city.

She said: “Very few of us live blameless lives and (very few) commit offences after the event. We want to remove the freedom of the city and think very carefully about who we give it to.

“Also, what benefits it might bring when we award (the freedom) to people.”

Conservative councillor Anne Meadows recalled the vote in 2011, shortly before she became mayor, and wondered why someone without a link to the city was given the honour.

Councillor Meadows said: “This should never have happened. (The honour should be awarded to) only those who are considered to have given service to the city for a long time – someone who has benefited this city and all of its residents.”

Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested in February 2021 when the army seized power and is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence.

Her crimes, which critics of the military regime said were politically motivated, include renting land to a charity below the market price.

ShareTweetShareSendSendShare

Comments 6

  1. Mike Beasley says:
    2 years ago

    Great!
    Now can we do something about the bins, junkies, beggars and graffiti?
    Asking for 10s of thousands local taxpayers

    Reply
  2. Barry Johnson says:
    2 years ago

    A full hour of full council time to waste on a questionable individual with nothing to do with the city who should never have been given freedom of Brighton and Hove in the first place and a pathetic half an hour offered to public questions for their electorate with some cut short and even aborted. This Labour Council are even more of a joke to democracy than the Greens

    Reply
    • Sarah Booker says:
      2 years ago

      It was more like 20 minutes

      Reply
  3. Derek Tonkin says:
    2 years ago

    I am not sure what Councillor Sankey means when she (reportedly) says that Aung San Suu Kyi “can no longer be said to be a puppet of the military junta”. The junta seized power on 1 February 2021. Aung San Suu Kyi never was their “puppet”. I take it Councillor Sankey simply means “the military”. Has Councillor Sankey been misreported?

    Reply
  4. Peter.. says:
    2 years ago

    What an absolute shower. A facade of a ‘debate’ on a par with the result already in the can. I’ve moved out of Brighton now and never been more glad to do so. I feel so sorry for those left behind who have to put up with these self-righteous, know-nothing nobodies ruling over them.

    Reply
    • Derek Tonkin says:
      2 years ago

      If Daw Suu were to know that she was perceived by the Council as “no longer a puppet of the military junta”, implying that at one time she was, I have not the slightest doubt that she would herself have revoked her “Freedom of the City” award. She would not have wished to be associated with a City Council which held such a grotesque and bizarre view of her position. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of Burmese would regard such a characterisation of her as an unwarranted insult of a very brave woman who has suffered so much under successive military regimes.
      Her address on 21 August 2018 in Singapore to a distinguished audience (available online – 43rd Singapore Lecture organized by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute “Democratic Transition in Myanmar: Challenges and the Way Forward “) revealed her compassion for Arakan’s Muslim refugees. [“Rohingya” is a political construction of the early 1960s by Islamic ideologues]:
      “We share deep sympathy and concern for all displaced persons, especially women and children. There are around four million Myanmar migrant workers and displaced persons at present in Thailand……Similarly, we hope to work with Bangladesh to effect the voluntary, safe and dignified return of displaced persons from northern Rakhine. We have reached out to Bangladesh by sending Ministerial delegations to Dhaka and last week, the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister was invited to Myanmar to see at first hand preparations we have made for the resettlement of returnees……
      “The danger of terrorist activities, which was the initial cause of events leading to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine, remains real and present today. Unless this security challenge is addressed, the risk of inter-communal violence will remain. It is a threat that could have grave consequences not just for Myanmar but also for other countries in our region and beyond. Terrorism should not be condoned in any form for any reason.”
      It is regrettable that the terrorist attacks by the militant Islamic organisation ARSA which led to the Burmese Army’s ruthless counter-insurgency operations in 2016 and 2017 found no mention at all in the tendentious background paper prepared for the meeting. Nor were these terrorist attacks mentioned by any councillor.
      In short, you can take it that Daw Suu’s view of the City Council is now as antagonistic as the City Council’s view of her. There was never any likelihood that she would be given a fair hearing.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most read

Peace breaks out in the Deans after land-grab claims

Hove Beach Park officially opened

Old Steine roadworks on track

First food waste bins on their way within months

Car wash worker sentenced for brawl that led to man’s death

Proposed closure of primary school to be decided next week

Councillors revoke former Burmese leader’s freedom of the city

Two charged after drugs seized in Hove

Madeira Terrace work on schedule for 2026 completion

Brighton and Hove is a city of friends, says council leader

Newsletter

Arts and Culture

  • All
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Food and Drink
The Trumpeter

The Trumpeter – Rotunda Theatre

18 May 2025
The Moulin Bouge – The World’s First, Best and Only Potato-Themed Cabaret

The Moulin Bouge – The World’s First, Best and Only Potato-Themed Cabaret

18 May 2025

Off The Chest’s Brighton Bards returns – Preview

17 May 2025
‘Soundings’ Gives An Insight on a Hidden World

‘Soundings’ Gives An Insight on a Hidden World

17 May 2025
Load More

Sport

  • All
  • Brighton and Hove Albion
  • Cricket
Hürzeler says Brighton and Hove Albion may need to ‘win ugly’

Dunk could return as Brighton and Hove Albion host champions Liverpool

by PA sport staff
17 May 2025
0

Brighton and Hove Albion captain Lewis Dunk could be back in the side that faces the new Premier League champions...

Sussex struggle to make it to day three against Nottinghamshire

Sussex follow on after poor first innings against Somerset

by Richard Latham - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
17 May 2025
0

Sussex 152 (46.2 overs) and 127-4 (37 overs) Somerset 338 (105.1 overs) Sussex trail Somerset by 59 runs Craig Overton...

Hove Beach Park officially opened

Hove Beach Park officially opened

by Roz Scott
17 May 2025
3

The first new park in Brighton and Hove for more than a generation has been formally opened by the mayor...

Sussex struggle to make it to day three against Nottinghamshire

Sussex bowlers work hard to contain Somerset on day one at Taunton

by Richard Latham - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
16 May 2025
0

Somerset 317-6 (96 overs) Half-centuries from Tom Lammonby and Archie Vaughan guided Somerset into a healthy position on the opening...

Load More
October 2023
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Sep   Nov »

RSS From Sussex News

  • Man remains in hospital with head injuries as mystery surrounds their cause 17 May 2025
  • Police seize stolen caravans and horsebox worth £300k 17 May 2025
  • Teenager critically injured in machete attack last night 17 May 2025
  • Axe murder defendant denies charges 16 May 2025
  • Police officer pleads guilty to sharing child porn 16 May 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy
  • Complaints
  • Ownership, funding and corrections
  • Ethics
  • T&C

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Opinion
  • Arts and Culture
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Sport
    • Cricket
  • Newsletter
  • Public notices
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Contact

© 2023 Brighton and Hove News