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Summary
Aung San Suu Kyi born in Rangoon in 1945 in a noble family of Government service has been fighting for the freedom of her people and establishment of democracy in Burma. Though she won with clear majority in elections, the dictatorship in Burma did not recognize the elections; and she spends her life in prison.
Her sacrifices and noble objectives have been appreciated all over the world. Her earlier term of imprisonment should have come to an end recently; but she has been imprisoned for a further period of three years on cooked up charges.
Early life:
Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon in 1945. Her father General Aung San was assassinated when Suu Kyi was two years old. When Burma became an independent union in 1947, her mother Daw Khin Kyi became Burma’s ambassador to India. Suu Kyi came to New Delhi along with her mother. Suu Kyi studied at the high school and Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi.
Middle Life:
During 1964 – 67 she pursued her studies in Philosophy, in Oxford University; then goes to New York for further studies. There she stayed with their family friend, Ma Than E, a staff member at the United Nations. It was the period when U Thant of Burma was Secretary General. Postponing studies, Suu Kyi joined U.N. secretariat as Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions.
She married on January 1, 1972. Marries Michael Aris and joined him in Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where he tutored royal family and headed Translation Department. She became Research Officer in the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The couple returned to London. Her sons Alexander and Kim were born there. Michael takes up appointment in Tibetan and Himalayan studies at Oxford University.
While assisting her husband, Suu Kyi wrote the biography of her father and published it in Leaders of Asia series of University of Queensland Press. She also pursued her own research and publishing programs.
Later Life:
On July 23, 1988 Burma’s military dictator from 1962 resigned. There were public demonstrations against military rule; they grew as mass uprising. The country’s military killed thousands of people and suppressed the uprising.
The first political action of Suu Kyi was an open letter sent to government on August 15, 1988, in which she asked for formation of independent consultative committee to prepare multi-party elections. Her first public speech was on August 26, 1988. She addressed a very huge gathering outside Shwedagon Pagoda and called for democratic government. On September 18, 1988 the Military established State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Political gatherings of more than four persons were banned. Arrests and sentencing without trial got reaffirmed.
On September 24, 1988 National League for Democracy (NLD) was formed. Suu Kyi became the general-secretary of NLD. She undertook political activities very seriously upholding non-violence and civil disobedience. She defied ban and undertakes tour throughout Burma giving public speeches. On the day of the funeral of Daw Khin Kyi (January 2, 1989), there was a huge funeral procession. Suu Kyi vowed that she would serve their motherland like her parents till death.
Suu Kyi was prohibited from offering herself as a candidate in election. On April 5, 1989 she faced rifle-holding soldiers and walked boldly in Irawaddy Delta and continued her campaign. Military regime placed her under house arrest without any charge or trial. Despite this, NLD secures 82% of parliamentary seats. These results were quite unexpected to the SLORC. It refused to recognize the election results! Though her party has won a landslide victory in 1990, she has never been allowed to form the government by the military; the military rule that started in 1962 still continues.
On October 12, 1990 Suu Kyi was awarded the Rafto Human Rights Prize, 1990. In 1991, the European Parliament awarded her Sakharov Human Rights Prize. The same year, on October 14, the Nobel Committee announces the 1991 Peace Award to her. Her book ‘Freedom from Fear’ was published in 1991. The book has been translated in European languages.
The military regime offered to free her if she would leave politics and leave Burma; she promptly rejected this offer. After six years of detention, SLORC released Suu Kyi on July 10, 1995.
Suu Kyi was again under house arrest for 20 months ending in May 2002. The Nobel Laureate has again been detained in her lakeside villa since September 2003. She had been first detained in May that year, spending some months in Insein jail, then receiving medical treatment for a gynecological condition, before being confined to her home.
Suu Kyi has repeatedly said she would be willing to be the last person to be released in order to see all of the other estimated 1,300 political detainees freed.
On March 27, 1999, Michael Aris died of prostate cancer in London. He had petitioned the Burmese authorities to allow him to visit Suu Kyi one last time, but they had rejected his request. He had not seen her since a Christmas visit in 1995. The government always urged her to join her family abroad, but she knew that she would not be allowed to return. This separation she regarded as one of the sacrifices she had had to make in order to work for a free Burma.
Suu Kyi, who should have ruled Myanmar as Prime Minister on account of her victory 19 years ago, has not been allowed by Myanmar’s military regime even to live as a free citizen.
New Charges
Just a few days before Suu Kyi’s date with freedom, she was tried for allegedly allowing John Yettaw, a former American military veteran to enter her house by swimming through the lake to gain access to her detention center.
An eccentric American, John Yettaw swam to her lakeside house in the night hours, using a pair of home-made flippers and a plastic bottle. The charges stem from this incident that took place earlier this month (May 09). The American stayed in the house for two days. Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded not guilty to charges that she violated the terms of her house arrest. Her lawyers explained that she asked him to leave, but that he was too exhausted and ill to swim back. Yettaw stated that he wanted to warn her that she would be assassinated. The trial took place in the notorious Insein Prison. The whole episode smacks chicanery.
UN Security Council Urges Burma to Release All Political Prisoners
The U.N. Security Council called for the release of all political prisoners in Burma, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and expressed its concern over her recent trial. In a unanimous statement, the 15-council members expressed their concern about the "political impact" of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi charging her with violating the terms of her house arrest.
The council also repeated its call for the release of all political prisoners in Burma - which is also known as Myanmar. The council also called on Burma's military regime to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with all concerned parties and ethnic groups to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation.
The general view is that Burma's military leaders want to keep the pro-democracy leader in detention and away from next year's elections.
The reaction of the Myanmar’s government to the international opinion was not positive. It has imposed another three year imprisonment on her!
The Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years; and she is not likely to regain her freedom for three years to come!
Sources
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4051235.stm
http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=24684A2:F7F0B63DAB0DE8EE6F6B6257883E43E9C030207A0BD70133&
http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=2445095:F7F0B63DAB0DE8EE9CA47862B93568FD7F0EB4B66EA3A89D&
http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=246D93B:F7F0B63DAB0DE8EE09175E9D35B7CBF170AD7039DCD7B7E4&
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