YANGON: Horns honked and sirens wailed on Friday as Myanmar revived a tribute that was silenced for decades to the country's slain independence hero, the father of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Adding a modern twist, many people played sirenlike ringtones on their mobile phones to mark the moment at 10.37am when Gen Aung San was assassinated by gunmen at a Cabinet meeting on July 19, 1947.
State-owned radio stations used to broadcast sirens in Aung San's honour but the custom was stopped for many years as part of the former military rulers' efforts to stem the popularity of Suu Kyi, who was kept under house arrest for 15 years.
The junta ceded power in 2011 to a nominally civilian government that has embarked on wide-ranging reforms . This year, opposition lawmakers raised the issue in Parliament of resuming the sirens' wail but the government rejected the idea saying it could cause traffic accidents. In defiance, pro-democracy groups launched a campaign asking citizens in 30 towns and cities to sound their own sirens and honk car horns.
With flags flying at halfstaff , vice-president Sai Mauk Hkam joined Suu Kyi in placing three baskets of flowers at her father's tomb.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Suu-Kyis-dad-a-hero-again-in-Myanmar/articleshow/21180213.cms
Adding a modern twist, many people played sirenlike ringtones on their mobile phones to mark the moment at 10.37am when Gen Aung San was assassinated by gunmen at a Cabinet meeting on July 19, 1947.
State-owned radio stations used to broadcast sirens in Aung San's honour but the custom was stopped for many years as part of the former military rulers' efforts to stem the popularity of Suu Kyi, who was kept under house arrest for 15 years.
The junta ceded power in 2011 to a nominally civilian government that has embarked on wide-ranging reforms . This year, opposition lawmakers raised the issue in Parliament of resuming the sirens' wail but the government rejected the idea saying it could cause traffic accidents. In defiance, pro-democracy groups launched a campaign asking citizens in 30 towns and cities to sound their own sirens and honk car horns.
With flags flying at halfstaff , vice-president Sai Mauk Hkam joined Suu Kyi in placing three baskets of flowers at her father's tomb.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Suu-Kyis-dad-a-hero-again-in-Myanmar/articleshow/21180213.cms
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