19 July 2017•Update: 20 July 2017
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar
Life stopped in cities across Myanmar for a few minutes on Wednesday, as cars, buses, and people stood still to pay respect to fallen national heroes, who had sacrificed their lives for the country’s independence.
Sirens were broadcast through state-run radio and television channels at 10.37 a.m. local time (0407GMT), as Myanmar held a state ceremony to mark the death of its founder General Aung San and eight others, who were assassinated in 1947, a year before its independence from British colonial rule.
Thousands of people lined up at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Yangon city that was opened to public.
Myanmar leaders including Suu Kyi who is Aung San’s daughter, and military chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaign attended the ceremony at the mausoleum.
The secretariat office, where the leaders were assassinated was also opened to public for three days.
General Aung San, along with eight others including his bodyguard and seven council members, were assassinated at Yangon's then prime minister's office on July 19, 1947 before Myanmar gained independence on Jan. 4, 1948.
Two of them, then Education and National Planning Minister Abdul Razak, and his bodyguard Ko Htwe, were Muslims.
Dozens of residents in Yangon annually visit a Muslim cemetery where graves of the two national heroes lie.
“I have brought my sons to the Secretariat building, and will then visit Muslim cemetery,” said Maung Sein, a Muslim resident of Tarmwe Township in Yangon.
“I want them to be proud of the fact that Muslims are part of Myanmar’s fight for independence,” he told Anadolu Agency outside the Secretariat Office.
