Suu Kyi to get highest US civilian honour

Congress would present Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi its highest civilian honour, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Officials said the ceremony is scheduled to take place 19 September during Suu Kyi’s visit to the United States.

Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace laureate and former political prisoner who was unable to leave her home country for more than two decades.

The opposition parliament leader recently was greeted enthusiastically during trips to Thailand and Europe.

In addition to the congressional award, Suu Kyi would be presented with the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award on 21 September in New York.

The State Department said Suu Kyi would be invited for meetings with the US government officials during her visit.

Suu Kyi, elected in April, would be feted for her long struggle against military rule in her homeland and for championing democracy. She is revered by Republicans and Democrats, has been a guiding force in the US policy toward Myanmar over the past two decades, and has been supportive of the Obama administration’s engagement of the reformist Myanmar President Thein Sein. The US recently suspended investment sanctions that had been in force against Myanmar for 15 years. Suu Kyi cautiously supported that move, but it did expose a rare difference between her views and those of the US government. The US decided to allow US companies to invest with Myanmar’s state oil and gas enterprise. Suu Kyi has opposed foreign companies working with that enterprise because of its lack of openness.