Nay Pyi Taw: Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday hailed the incorporation of 37 adopted principles into a union agreement.
Suu Kyi, also chair of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), made the remarks following the incorporation in the last day session of Myanmar’s 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference, Xinhua news agency reported.
She said it was a step towards peace, national reconciliation and the emergence of a democratic federal union.
The Myanmar leader urged all organisations and individuals that have not participated in the conference to join the historic endeavour towards a peaceful democratic federal union.
The 37 adopted principles out of 41, proposed by the UPDJC and resulting from state and regional level political dialogue, include 12 with the political sector, 11 with the economic, four with the social sector and 10 with the land and environment sector.
The principles, in accordance with the Nationwide Cease-fire Accord, were signed by leaders of participating groups of the government, parliament, military, cease-fired ethnic armed groups and political parties.
Inaugurated by Suu Kyi, the meeting was attended by 1,400 representatives from the government, parliament, military, political parties, ethnic armed organisations and civil society.
Meanwhile, Myanmar netizens were in uproar on Monday after Facebook seemingly banned people from posting the word “kalar,” often used as a slur against Muslims, at a time of rising Islamophobia in the country.
Facebook is under global pressure to clamp down on hate speech, violent threats or deliberately misleading information on their platform — with efforts showing varying degrees of success.
Dozens of users in Myanmar reported being temporarily barred from the site recently after posting the controversial term kalar, which is frequently used as an insult for the country’s embattled Muslim minority.
The push comes as Myanmar’s government has been seeking to clamp down on hate speech after a spike in anti-Muslim actions by Buddhist hardliners. (Agencies)