Burmese dissident leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi will visit Prague for the first time for this year's Forum 2000, scheduled for Sept. 15-17. She spent almost 15 years under house arrest, but was released in 2010 and was elected to the lower house of Parliament in 2012. She has also announced her intention in 2015 to run for president of Burma, also known as Myanmar.
"There are no better friends than those with whom we shared the same values. It is because the late President Václav Havel and we in Burma shared a hunger for democracy and human rights then we became friends across oceans and continents," Suu Kyi said in press release.
Forum 2000 was established in 1996 by Havel, who was Czech president at the time, along with Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and political activist Elie Wiesel. The foundation holds annual conferences that are intended to open dialogue that will promote democracy, reduce conflicts and support a civil society.
This year was not the first time that the Burmese opposition leader was approached. "We invited Suu Kyi to Forum 2000 every year even though during her house arrest it was clear to us that this would only be a symbolic invitation," Jakub Klepal, executive director of the Forum 2000 Foundation, said in a press release. "But this is precisely why we wanted to at least support her in this way in her fight for democracy and the observance of human rights in Burma. Václav Havel, who nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, would undoubtedly have taken great delight in her visit." Havel died in December 2011.
During her second trip to Europe after being released from house arrest, Suu Kyi will also visit Poland and Hungary. She previously visited in June 2012 when went to Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, England and France.
Suu Kyi is not the only high-profile guest scheduled for the 17th annual Forum 2000 conference, which has the theme of Societies in Transitions. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, American singer and activist Joan Baez, and former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk are also expected.
"Last year, a record 4,000 visitors attended the conference," Forum 2000 spokesman Filip Šebek said. "We are very happy that interest in our conference debates on topical international and domestic themes is constantly growing. This year, students or any interested members of the public can also attend the conference by filling out a simple registration form on the Internet." He added that the lectures are free. The main part of the conference can also be watched online at iHned.cz and Respekt.cz.
The Dalai Lama will hold a public lecture called Compassion and Respect in Today's Society at Tipsport Arena on Sept. 14 at 1:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased from the Ticketportal network.
Raymond Johnston can be reached at
rjohnston@praguepost.com
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