Suu Kyi says people key to country’s dev’t

Published on Saturday, 29 December 2012 13:34

If the people do not have necessary skills and high morals, the country will not be wealthy even though it is rich in natural resources, says Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi at a fundraising concert organised by the National League for Democracy.

The fundraising held on December 27 was to commemorate the second anniversary of its education network.

Suu Kyi also pointed out that some of the richest countries in the world are not rich in natural resources, but they nurture their people like jewels. She said this is what she wants to see in Myanmar.

"It depends a lot on the people's ability for a country to become rich. Even if a country has a lot of natural resources, it will never become rich unless the people have the necessary skills and high spirit," she added.

"Myanmar is not poor naturally, but its method made it poor. There should be a right way to change it. People should be educated to do so. The education system which uses the rote system is useless," she said.

"Only if the people has high morality, the country will become developed. Education means not having read a lot of books, but it means the right way to deal with the problems of one's life in the right way. Our country's education system where students have to memorise what the teachers teach in the classes has been very useless,"

Aung Min, the minister for the President Office also joined the concert on behalf of the president on that day.

He also emphasised reforms on the educational system during his speech.

"For the successful democratisation of the country, the two most important things are national reconciliation and internal peace, and General Aung San was able to lead the country's movement to gain independence from the British as he read a lot of subjects."

The concert received more than 200 million kyats in donations from several local companies including Sky Net, Shwe FM, AGD Bank, Air Bagan, Bagan Entertainment, MDG and Asia World Company for education of poor children in the country.

The two-day concert also included an auction for two handicrafts made by Suu Kyi.