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