Nobel winner aiming Indiana speech to Burmese

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi plans to speak to Fort Wayne’s large Burmese community in their native language during her visit this month.

Suu Kyi speaks fluent English, but organizers say plans are for her entire presentation Sept. 25 at Memorial Coliseum to be in Burmese.

Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne vice president George McClellan tells The Journal Gazette that Suu Kyi’s remarks will be translated and displayed as English text on a screen behind the stage.

McClellan says tickets won’t be needed for seating off the arena floor for the free public speech by the democracy advocate who couldn’t leave her Southeast Asian country for two decades.

Some 4,000 Burmese live in the Fort Wayne area, one of the country’s largest concentrations.