Senior Indochina Correspondent of Channel News Asia May Wong tweeted: No words needed to mark Aung San SuuKyi's 79th birthday today as some, including embassies in Yangon, changed profile pics to flowers. Suu Kyi is renowned for wearing flowers in her hair. The military has likely again arrested people wearing flowers.

She shared Twitter profile pictures of the Embassy of Denmark, German Embassy, Italian Embassy, British Embassy, Royal Norwegian Embassy, and Embassy of the European Union which have changed their profile pictures to flowers.

Myanmar’s UN Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun and other Myanmar people gathered in New York’s Greeley Square Park on June 8 to mark the upcoming birthday of democracy leader Suu Kyi.

The National League for Democracy, whose elected government was overthrown by the military junta in February 2021 and detained its leader Suu Kyi, thanked diplomats and private citizens who wished jailed party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi a happy 79th birthday. The party singled out China, expressing gratitude to the country, for its support.

The "This Revolution Is No Turning Back" protest group held an anti-military dictatorship demonstration. They displayed the All Burma Federation of Student Unions banner and a poster dedicated to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi that read, "Iron roses never bow down, they resist."

Resistance fighters from Thabeikkyin People’s Defense Force based in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region held a demonstration holding roses in their hands to commemorate SuuKyi's birthday on June 19th morning.

While the Myanmar junta cracked down on citizens who took part in a flower campaign to celebrate the 79th birthday of Aung San SuuKyi in Mandalay city, their action was feeble given the large-scale peaceful protest across the country, ravaged by civil war. Those who were arbitrarily arrested were chained in stocks at a location believed to be the junta's police station in the city. The junta regime's propaganda media outlet released an image of three women, as well as a couple, being chained together in the stocks.

Aung San SuuKyi has been detained by the junta regime since February 2021 after a military coup that overthrew her democratically elected government. This is her fourth birthday in detention.

Early this month, Tin Oo, a former Myanmar general turned democracy activist and confidant of Aung San SuuKyi passed away at the age of 98. Hundreds of mourners turned out in Yangon to pay their respects to Tin Oo in a rare sanctioned public gathering in the junta-controlled commercial capital.

Meanwhile, Chindwin News Agency on June 18 reported that the Southern Chin town has been liberated from the Myanmar junta regime's control, ending decades of its grip on power in the town.

“Chin Brotherhood in collaboration with Arakan Army has captured yesterday Matupi - the southern town of Chin state, fully seizing all the junta regime's military base of Light Infantry Battalion - 304 in western Myanmar,” it said.

The takeover was a significant victory for Chin resistance forces, who had been engaged in intense battles for two weeks. During this time, the residents of Matupi have fled the town, seeking refuge in the jungles or nearby villages as internally displaced persons (IDPs). The ongoing conflict has forced civilians to abandon their homes and seek safety, adding to the already dire humanitarian situation in the region.

The hilltop position of LIB-304, overlooking the entire town of Matupi, provided a strategic advantage for the junta regime. However, the capture of this base by the Chin Brotherhood and their allies has neutralized this advantage and disrupted the junta regime's operations in the region. This development will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the balance of power in Chin state and the ongoing conflict, the Chindwin News Agency reported.

SuuKyi’s 46-year-old youngest son Kim Aris said her mother’s liberty is inextricably linked to the freedom of her people. In January 2021, Aris sent a care package to her mother and received a thank you note from her mother. “I have received no further communication from Maymay since the short letter,” he told The Irrawaddy, using the Burmese word for “Mom”, in a wide-ranging interview given to the Irrawaddy on the occasion of his mother’s birthday. (IPA Service)