Kawhmu Township

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kawmhu Township
ကော့မှူး မြို့နယ်
Township of Yangon Region
Kawmhu Township
Coordinates: 16°30′0″N 96°10′0″E / 16.50000°N 96.16667°E / 16.50000; 96.16667Coordinates: 16°30′0″N 96°10′0″E / 16.50000°N 96.16667°E / 16.50000; 96.16667
Country Myanmar
Region Yangon
Township Kawmhu
Population (April 2009) 123,276
Time zone MST (UTC6:30)
Area code(s) 1 (mobile: 80, 99)

Kawmhu Township (Burmese: ကော့မှူး မြို့နယ် [kɔ̰m̥ú mjo̰nɛ̀]) is a township of Yangon Region, Myanmar. It is located in the southwestern section of the Region. Kawhmu was one of the most affected townships in Yangon Region of Cyclone Nargis.[1]

Politics and History

Labor activist and political prisoner Su Su Nway is from Htan Manaing village in the township, where she became the first Burmese national to successfully sue local government officials under a 1999 law for forced labour.[2]

In January 2012, after spending years in house arrest under the orders of Myanmar's ruling junta, Aung San Suu Kyi announced that she would be running for elected office to represent Kawhmu in parliament in elections slated for April 2012.[3] The elections came after the Burmese government, led by President Thein Sein, began normalizing relations with the West and showing other signs of democratic reform.[4]

On April 1, 2012, Suu Kyi won her local election and now represents Kawhmu Township in the Burmese lower house of parliament.[5] She is aligned with the National League for Democracy (NLD), a party that had not participated in major elections for nearly two decades because of various bans and boycotts.[6][7]

References

  1. "Profile of Kawmhu Township". Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU). April 2009. 
  2. "BURMA: Complaints against forced labour blocked and victims punished". Asian Human Rights Commission. 2004-09-03. Retrieved 2006-06-07. 
  3. "Aung Sun Suu Kyi registers for Burma election run". BBC. 18 Jan 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012. 
  4. Strangio, Sebastian (20 Jan 2012). "Paper Tigers". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 20 January 2012. 
  5. "Burma poll: Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD sweeps by-elections". BBC. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012. 
  6. Golluoglu, Esmer (2 April 2012). "Aung San Suu Kyi hails 'new era' for Burma after landslide victory". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 2 April 2012. 
  7. "Party: Suu Kyi wins Myanmar election". CNN. 1 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012. 


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.