| Referred to by the Dalai Lama as his 'little | | | | was an excellent occasion for her to master |
| sister' this Burmese freedom fighter has | | | | the political and spiritual thoughts of Swami |
| tirelessly worked for democracy in her | | | | Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Tagore, Gandhi |
| country for the last 16 years...Danubyu, | | | | and Radhakrishnan.In her thesis, she wrote of |
| Myanmar. 5 April, 1989: two months before the | | | | her admiration for these men who "were able |
| Tiananmen Square massacre in nearby China.A | | | | to use the English language to make their |
| woman walks down the middle of the street, | | | | views known to the world. Because they could |
| accompanied by several men.Six soldiers of | | | | handle the western intellectual idiom so |
| the State Law and Order Restoration Council - | | | | masterfully, the world regarded those views |
| the junta which has crushed the democracy | | | | as worthy of serious consideration."After |
| movement and killed thousands of people in | | | | travelling extensively through the Himalayas |
| Rangoon - order the group to stop. | | | | and writing on India's age-old traditions of |
| | | | peace and tolerance, the couple returned to |
| The group pays no heed. A young army captain | | | | London in early 1988.Fate caught up with her |
| whips out his revolver and jumps out of his | | | | in March of that year, when her mother had a |
| jeep, ready to open fire.The woman asks the | | | | stroke in Burma and Suu had to immediately |
| men to move aside. "It seemed so much simpler | | | | leave England for her country.A few months |
| to provide them with a single target than to | | | | after her arrival in Rangoon, the old |
| bring everyone else in," she later | | | | military dictator General Ne Win resigned, |
| explained.In the nick of time, a major | | | | triggering a dynamic pro-democracy student |
| intervenes, and asks the captain to hold his | | | | movement.Soon millions of Burmese joined in |
| fire. The lady walks on.She is Daw Aung San | | | | their demand for a true democracy.This |
| Suu Kyi, the Iron Lady of Burma.The fearless | | | | culminated on 8 August, when thousands of |
| daughter of General Aung San, the hero of | | | | demonstrators were massacred by the army - a |
| Burma's freedom struggle, Suu Kyi has for the | | | | brutal foreshadowing of the Tiananmen Square |
| past 16 years existed in a state of almost | | | | killings which took place less than a year |
| perpetual imprisonment - either in prison or | | | | later.The time of reckoning had come for Suu |
| under house arrest. But she has always | | | | Kyi."Her knowledge of the Burmese heritage, |
| remained faithful to one project: | | | | her wonderful fluency in her own language, |
| democracy.Why Burma MattersAung San Suu Kyi | | | | and her refusal to give up her own Burmese |
| was born on 19 April 1945. Her father, | | | | citizenship and passport, all these factors |
| General Aung San was one of the 'Thirty | | | | conspired with the sad circumstances of her |
| Comrades' who spearheaded the Japanese | | | | mother's final illness to make her engagement |
| advance into British Burma before turning | | | | unavoidable," her husband later wrote.On 26 |
| against the Japanese and finally negotiating | | | | August, 1988, she addressed one million |
| Burma's independence with the British.Just as | | | | people assembled at the Shwedagon Pagoda in |
| he was taking over as the first head of the | | | | Rangoon."I could not, as my father's |
| Burmese State, General Aung San was | | | | daughter, remain indifferent to all that was |
| assassinated. It was the first national | | | | going on. This national crisis could, in |
| tragedy.The same day in statement to the | | | | fact, be called the second struggle for |
| press, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru | | | | national independence."She thus became the |
| declared: "I mourn Aung San, friend and | | | | leader of the opposition National League for |
| comrade, who even in his youth had become the | | | | Democracy which till today opposes the |
| architect of Burmese freedom. I mourn Burma | | | | military junta.The following months saw her |
| bereft at this critical moment of her chosen | | | | criss-crossing Burma and addressing hundreds |
| leaders and I mourn for Asia who has lost one | | | | of meetings. The junta was becoming more and |
| of her bravest and most far-seeing sons."In | | | | more nervous and, on 20 July, 1989, she was |
| 1960, her mother Daw Khin Kyi was appointed | | | | arrested. From that day onwards she has spent |
| Burma's ambassador to India. Suu Kyi, a young | | | | most of her time in jail or in confinement.In |
| girl of fifteen with long thick plaits, | | | | May 1990, despite her continued detention, |
| joined Lady Sri Ram College in Delhi."Her | | | | her party won a landslide victory in the |
| circle of Indian friends widened. This was a | | | | general election; the NLD secured 82 per cent |
| wonderful opportunity to explore and | | | | of the seats. But till today the generals |
| understand the country of Mahatma Gandhi," | | | | have refused to validate the results of the |
| recalls a family friend and diplomat, Ma Than | | | | election.In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel |
| E. | | | | Peace Prize, but her fortunes did not |
| | | | improve.During the following years, despite |
| Apart from college, Suu kept busy with | | | | appeals from the US president, the UN |
| Japanese flower arrangements, piano classes | | | | secretary general, the Dalai Lama, other |
| or riding lessons. She also got to know | | | | Nobel Laureates and thousands of other |
| Indira Gandhi's children, Rajiv and Sanjay.Do | | | | personalities from the West and Asia, nothing |
| we have a Burma policy? | | | | has moved the junta.The most tragic event is |
| | | | perhaps the death of her husband in March |
| As Ma Than E said in 1991: "India for Suu | | | | 1999.Though she had not seen him since 1995 |
| was a throbbing, vital experience. Her bonds | | | | and he was dying from prostate cancer, he was |
| of remembrance and love for this country have | | | | refused a visa and not allowed to visit her a |
| remained strong to this day."With her mother | | | | last time.Suu Kyi could have left Myanmar to |
| leading the hectic social life of a diplomat, | | | | see him, but it was clear that the junta |
| Suu got to know many senior Indian | | | | would not have allowed her to return.Forced |
| politicians, officials and diplomats in the | | | | to choose between her husband and her |
| capital. In 1964, she went to Oxford where | | | | country, she opted for the latter.What has |
| she read philosophy, politics and economics. | | | | given the junta the strength to resist world |
| Later she embarked on her first work | | | | pressure and keep Aung San Suu Kyi behind the |
| experience as an assistant secretary in the | | | | bars of her home for 16 years?Look to the |
| United Nations Secretariat.Her life took | | | | North; it is the same regime which forced the |
| another turn when she met a young and | | | | Dalai Lama to flee his country in 1959. In |
| brilliant British scholar, Dr Michael Aris, | | | | China, the Communist/capitalist regime is |
| whose expertise was the Tibetan Buddhist | | | | terrified of the word Suu Kyi lives by: |
| tradition.Before her marriage Suu Kyi asked | | | | Freedom.There is no doubt that without |
| her future husband for a 'favour': "I only | | | | Beijing's active support (and with India's |
| ask one thing, that, should my people need | | | | failure to take a stand in accordance with |
| me, you would help me to do my duty by | | | | her professed principles), Burma would today |
| them."Her life as a mother of two sons and a | | | | be a democracy."Always one to practice what |
| scholar continued smoothly during the | | | | he preached, Aung San himself constantly |
| following years.In 1985 she was separated | | | | demonstrated courage that enabled him to |
| from her family when she decided to learn | | | | speak the truth, to stand by his word, to |
| Japanese and work as a visiting scholar at | | | | accept criticism, to admit his faults, to |
| the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at | | | | correct his mistakes, to respect the |
| Kyoto University.In 1987 the family was | | | | opposition," says Suu Kyi about her |
| reunited and she was back in India. For two | | | | father.She has practiced all these values and |
| years, Dr Aris conducted a research on 'A | | | | above all that of Abhaya, 'fearlessness', |
| Study of Buddhist Hagiography' at the Indian | | | | that 'gift of Ancient India' which is 'not |
| Institute of Advanced Studies in Simla.The | | | | merely bodily courage but an absence of fear |
| main theme of his study was the life and | | | | from the mind.' |
| times of the Sixth Dalai Lama, born during | | | | |
| the 17th century in Twang district of | | | | Whether or not she lives to see her dream |
| Arunachal. Suu had herself received a | | | | materialise, Suu Kyu will live on forever in |
| scholarship to work on 'The Growth and | | | | the minds of those who champion freedom of |
| Development of Burmese and Indian | | | | the spirit. |
| Intellectual Traditions under Colonialism'.It | | | | |