After
attending and participating in the annual General Debate at the UNGA (United
Nations General Assembly) Burma President U Thein Sein has landed back at
Rangoon International Airport on the morning of October First.
And
believe or not there were thousands and thousands of his fellow country men and
women welcoming him back home at Rangoon Airport. And it was the very first
time in last 60 years many Burmese are so enthusiastic about one of their
leaders.
In
addition to the senior leaders and people from the ruling party USDP (Union
Solidarity and Development Party) his own political party, there were people
from all walks of life. Highly visible among the crowd were movie actors and
actresses and famous Industrialists. Also were businessmen and women, many
young workers from various garment factories, and various ethnic youth groups.
Most were at the Rangoon airport
since very early morning with their banners and placards declaring “Congratulation Mr President”, “Welcome Back
Home”, “Thanks For Raising Burmese Pride Internationally”, and “Welcome Our President Who Implements the
Historical Chang for his 60 million People”, etcetera, etcetera.
The
Singapore’s Silk Airway plane carrying U Thein Sein landed at 9:20 am and the
people waiting there welcomed him eagerly with loud cheers. “Long Live President” and “We’re Proud of You, President” were
common cheers from the welcoming crowd inside and outside the Rangoon
International Airport concourse.
Following
was what U Win Aung the Chairman of MCCI (Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and
Industry) said of the occasion.
“We’re here to welcome our president who has
put tremendous efforts in benefitting our country. We’re really glad that he
has been opening doors internationally for the great future of our country.
We’re also very grateful for that. So we’ve arranged this welcoming as we truly
believe our President will put all his efforts and energy into raising the
living standard of our people.”
A
young Yakhine Buddhist woman at the airport also said, “I’m from Sittwe, the Yakhine State. I’m temporarily in Rangoon attending
a training class given by Myanmar Egress. I’m glad that I get a chance to see our
President back. I wasn’t expecting. I’m really grateful for all the great
changes he’s brought into our country. I would like to ask him to develop our
country more and more.”
Hundreds
of garment factory workers from all over Rangoon were there with a huge banner
declaring “We especially welcome our
President who’s done so much for our garment industry and us workers”.
Following
was what a young female garment factory worker from the Let-war Garment Factory
at Hlaing-thar-yar on the outskirt of Rangoon.
“We’ve been here since 7 in the morning.
Factory has arranged for us to come here. We’re really happy that we’re
welcoming the President back. We’re asking him to do more for us. And we
believe he will raise our living standard higher and higher.”
Thin
Zar Aung with President’ tiny photos on both her cheeks in the photo said, “Today I’m here to see the President. Nobody
asked me to come. I just come here at my free will. I don’t even wear a nice
dress. Just jeans. When president came out I just pushed through the media
people to see him close-up. Without planning ahead, of course. The security men
were clearing a way for him through the crowd.
The security men had to push the cameramen off
his way. It doesn’t matter. Anyway I came here for him and I wear no political colour.
I saw him really, really close. I’m satisfied. I’ve got a good photo of him and
many of my friends took his photos too. We’re so proud. Our country needs both
him and Daw Suu. For the people. I don’t believe they are only after the power.
I’m one of their people.”
Tin
Win a committee member of the Rangoon Division Committee of USDP the ruling
party also said, “He is our president and
he was once the chairman of our party USDP. We have duty to support him who is
doing a tremendous work by implementing democracy for all 60 millions of us. That’s
why we are here with 150 of our people to welcome him back.”
President
U Thein Sein had left for the United States on September 24 and since he had
done such many tasks as meeting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi the Chairman of NLD
(National League for Democracy) and a member of parliament, meeting Hilary
Clinton the US Secretary of State, giving a speech at the 67th UN
General Assembly at the New York UN Headquarters, meeting the Bangladeshi Prime
Minister, meeting Bill Clinton the former US President, meeting Henry Kissinger
the former US Secretary of State, giving a friendly seminar at New York Asia
Society, and giving various press conferences and many interviews to foreign
media like BBC and foreign-based Burmese media organizations like DVB.
