HKU delegation presents Honorary Degree and two honorary posts to

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma

Burma's pro-democracy leader, Nobel Peace laureate and Doctor of Laws honoris causa of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was formally presented with her Honorary Degree by an HKU delegation, on November 20 (Tuesday), in a ceremony held at Daw Suu’s home at Rose Cottage in Nay Pyi Taw, capital of Burma.

The delegation, led by Vice-Chancellor Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, is currently on a multiple-mission academic trip in the country to foster academic ties and other collaborative links. The delegation took the opportunity to present the honour to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in person, as it was conferred upon her in absentia at the University’s 186th Congregation in March this year, in recognition of her commitment to non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.

At the ceremony, she was also appointed Honorary Professor in the HKU Faculty of Social Sciences as well as the first Honorary Advisor of the HKU Service100 global service-learning programme.

On accepting the Honorary Degree, Daw Suu said it was a great pleasure for her to receive the honour. She hopes her ties with HKU will remain solid and strong throughout the years ahead and that relations between Burma and Hong Kong and the Mainland will grow closer.

She said: “This is an acknowledgement not of me personally, but of what we have been trying to achieve in Burma.” She hopes to continue strengthening ties with friends all over the world to strive for reforms in her country, which should be based on hopes that the future will always be better.

“For the future to be better than what the past has been, we all have to work together. That is to say, all the people in this country, as well as our friends from all over the world. Throughout the last two and a half decades, we have been greatly strengthened and helped by those who believe, as we do, that human rights should be the foundation of every civilized society and that democracy of all the imperfect institutions of this world is still the best possible [sic] for those who believe in both freedom and security.”

In her new capacity as honorary professor and advisor of HKU, Daw Suu is looking forward to making use of the research and academic endeavours of the University to empower young people in the country, especially students at Yangon University, which is a new policy direction advocated by her party.

“What we are trying to do really is to revive campus life for all the students of Burma. Rangoon University is going to be a pioneering effort. Campus life was destroyed during the years of military rule because the authorities believed that if you get undergraduates together they make trouble. Of course they make trouble, but it’s the right kind of trouble. And we have to teach them how to make trouble in the right way again.”

Professor Ian Holliday, in presenting the Honorary Professorship to Daw Suu, hopes she will share her knowledge, insights and experience about human rights advocacy with HKU students and community members.

He said: “We look to you as somebody who, throughout your political career, has been socially engaged, even when you were prevented by house arrest from being active in society. But nevertheless you were writing, you were deliberating within yourself, you were positioning yourself for the day when you would be released from house arrest and return to your people. We see you as one of the great social innovators of Asia, but also as a global citizen. We can’t think of a better person from within our Asian region, our Asian neighbourhood, to really embody the philosophy of global citizenship to which we are committed.”

HKU Vice-Chancellor Professor Lap-Chee Tsui hopes Daw Suu will inspire students and the HKU community, saying: ”It really benefits our students, and students are our future, and education is our hope.”

Daw Suu said she would like to come to Hong Kong as soon as possible to meet students but could not say exactly when this would be. She likes meeting young people, saying that young people have given her hope.

“My experiences have borne out the truth of this very simple motto: No hope without endeavour. I look forward to being with young people because they keep me young. Whenever I meet young people, I feel myself back in the days when I was just like them.

“It inspires me and it gladdens my heart to know that the process of youth never comes to an end. It is like spring coming again each year and reminding us that we don’t need to despair of humanity, because there is something ingrained in humanity that makes it possible for us to renew hope all the time,” she added.

Members of the HKU delegation include Professor Ian Holliday, Burma expert and Professor in Department of Politics and Public Administration; Professor John Spinks, Senior Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor and Director of Undergraduate Admissions and International Student Exchange; Professor Stephen Andrews, Dean of Faculty of Education; HKU Librarian Mr Peter Sidorko and Director of Communications Ms Katherine Ma.

During the trip in Burma, they will meet with the Minister of Education and other members from the Burmese Ministry of Education, students and colleagues from various universities and institutions of Higher Education.

HKU Libraries held a book donation ceremony at Yangon University, at which close to 5,700 volumes of faculty-donated and duplicate books were presented to the university. At the ceremony, further areas of collaboration were discussed, including continuation of a book exchange scheme, staff placements and training, continuing professional development and access to digitized collections.

For the citation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, please visit: http://www.cpao.hku.hk./media/assk_citation.pdf

Audio highlights from the event:

1. Aung San Suu Kyi on accepting the HKU Honorary Degree: http://www.cpao.hku.hk./media/assk_1.mp3

2. Aung San Suu Kyi on what campus life is about: http://www.cpao.hku.hk./media/assk_2.mp3

3. Aung San Suu Kyi on what youth is: http://www.cpao.hku.hk./media/assk_3.mp3

4. Professor Ian Holliday on Aung San Suu Kyi as inspiration for Asia: http://www.cpao.hku.hk./media/assk_Ian.mp3

Video clips will be available later in the day.

For media enquiries, please contact: Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk .