'Aung San Suu Kyi' (; ); born
19 June 1945 in
Yangon (Rangoon), is a
nonviolent pro-
democracy activist and leader of the
National League for Democracy in
Myanmar (Burma), and a noted
prisoner of conscience. A
Buddhist, Suu Kyi won the
Rafto Prize and the
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and in 1991 was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a
military dictatorship.
Personal life
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on
19 June 1945. Her father,
Aung San, negotiated Burma's independence from the
United Kingdom in 1947, and was assassinated by his rivals in the same year. She grew up with her mother, Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and
Aung San U in
Rangoon. Aung San Lin drowned in a pool accident when Suu Kyi was eight. Suu Kyi was educated in English Catholic schools for much of her childhood in Burma.
Khin Kyi (Ma Khin Kyi) gained prominence as a political figure in the newly-formed Burmese government. Ma Khin Kyi was appointed as Burmese ambassador to
India in 1960, and Aung San Suu Kyi followed her there, graduating from
Lady Shri Ram College in
New Delhi in 1964.
[1]
She continued her education at
St Hugh's College, Oxford, obtaining a
B.A. degree in
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 1969 and at the
School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London in 1985. She also worked for the
government of the Union of Myanmar. In 1972, Aung San Suu Kyi married Dr.
Michael Aris, a scholar of
Tibetan culture, living abroad in
Bhutan. The following year she gave birth to her first son, Alexander, in London; and in 1977 she had her second child, Kim, who studied at Georgetown University from January 1991 to February 1991.
Political beginnings
Aung San Suu Kyi and her Father General
Aung San
Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to take care of her ailing mother. By coincidence, in that year, the long-time leader of the
socialist ruling party, General
Ne Win, stepped down, leading to mass demonstrations for
democratisation on
August 8,
1988 (8-8-88, a day seen as favorable), which were violently suppressed. A new military
junta took power.
Heavily influenced by
Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence
[2][3] , Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics to work for democratisation, helped found the
National League for Democracy on
27 September 1988, and was put under
house arrest on
20 July 1989. She was offered freedom if she would leave the country, but she refused.
One of her most famous speeches is the "Freedom From Fear" speech, which begins:
Detention in Myanmar
In 1990, the military junta called a
general election, which the National League for Democracy won decisively. Under normal circumstances, she would have assumed the office of
Prime Minister.
[4] Instead, the results were nullified, and the military refused to hand over power. This resulted in an international outcry and partly led to Aung San Suu Kyi's winning the
Sakharov Prize that year and the
Nobel Peace Prize the following year in 1991. Her sons Alexander and Kim accepted the
Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. Aung San Suu Kyi used the Nobel Peace Prize's 1.3 million
USD prize money to establish a
health and
education trust for the Burmese people.
The military government released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in July 1995 but made it clear that if she left the country to visit her family in the
United Kingdom, it would not allow her return. When her husband,
Michael Aris, a British citizen, was diagnosed with
prostate cancer in 1997, the Burmese government denied him an entry visa. Aung San Suu Kyi remained in Burma, and never again saw her husband, who died in March 1999. She remains separated from her children, who live in the United Kingdom.
[5]
The junta continually prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from meeting with her party supporters or international visitors. In 1998, academic and journalist
Maurizio Giuliano, after holding several meetings with her, was asked to leave the country and not allowed to enter again.
[6] In September 2000, the junta put her under house arrest again. On
6 May 2002, following secret confidence-building negotiations led by the
United Nations, the government released her; a government spokesman said that she was free to move "because we are confident that we can trust each other". Aung San Suu Kyi proclaimed "a new dawn for the country". However on
30 May 2003, a government-sponsored mob attacked her caravan in the northern village of
Depayin, murdering and wounding many of her supporters.
[7] Aung San Suu Kyi fled the scene with the help of her driver, Ko Kyaw Soe Lin, but was arrested upon reaching Ye-U. The government imprisoned her at
Insein Prison in Yangon. After she underwent a
hysterectomy in September 2003,
[8] the government again placed her under house arrest in Yangon.
In March 2004,
Razali Ismail, UN special envoy to Myanmar, met with Aung San Suu Kyi. Ismail resigned from his post the following year, partly because he was denied re-entry to Myanmar on several occasions.
[9]
On
28 May 2004, the United Nations Working Group for Arbitrary Detention rendered an Opinion (No. 9 of 2004) that her deprivation of liberty was arbitrary, as being in contravention of Article 9 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, and requested that the authorities in Burma set her free, but the authorities have so far ignored this request.
[10]
On
28 November 2005, the National League for Democracy confirmed that Suu Kyi's house arrest would be extended for yet another year. Many Western countries, as well as the
United Nations, have expressed their disapproval of this latest extension.
On
20 May 2006,
Ibrahim Gambari,
UN Undersecretary-General (USG) of
Department of Political Affairs, met with Aung San Suu Kyi, the first visit by a foreign official since 2004.
[11] Suu Kyi's house arrest term was set to expire
27 May 2006, but the Burmese government extended it for another year,
[12] flouting a direct appeal from U.N. General Secretary
Kofi Annan to
Than Shwe. Suu Kyi continues to be imprisoned under the 1975 State Protection Act (Article 10 b), which grants the government the power to imprison persons for up to five years without a trial.
[13]
On
9 June 2006, Suu Kyi was hospitalised with severe diarrhea and weakness, as reported by a UN representative for
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.
[14] Such claims were rejected by Major-General
Khin Yi, the national police chief of Myanmar.
On
11 November 2006,
USG Gambari, who was undertaking a mission to Myanmar for four days to encourage greater respect for
human rights there, met with Suu Kyi. According to Gambari, Suu Kyi seems in good health but she wishes to meet her doctor more regularly.
[15] UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon has urged the Burmese government to release Aung San Suu Kyi, as it released 2,831 prisoners, including 40 political prisoners, on
1 January 2007.
[16]
On
18 January 2007, the state-run paper ''
The New Light of Myanmar'' accused Suu Kyi of
tax evasion for spending her Nobel Prize money outside of the country. The accusation followed the defeat of a US-sponsored
United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Myanmar as a threat to international security.
[17]
On
25 May 2007, Myanmar extended Suu Kyi's detention for yet another year which would keep her confined to her residence for a fifth straight year.
[18]
International supporters
On
May 16,
2007, 59 world leaders released a letter demanding Myanmar's military government to free Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. The signatories include all three surviving former US presidents,
Jimmy Carter,
George H. W. Bush and
Bill Clinton; the former UK prime minister,
Margaret Thatcher; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of Poland,
Lech Wałęsa; as well as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former South Korean president,
Kim Dae-jung, amongst many others.
[19]
After her confinement was again extended, current Secretary General of the
United Nations Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that "the sooner restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the sooner Burma will be able to move towards inclusive national reconciliation, and the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights."
[20]
On
May 30,
2007, The Philippine government led members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in calling on Myanmar's military leaders to reverse their decision to extend the house arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In a statement, Phillipine foreign affairs secretary said "The Philippines joins the call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners [in Myanmar]."
"The Philippines deeply regrets the Myanmar government's decision to extend her house arrest. We urge the Myanmar government to reconsider its decision."
It was the first time that a Philippine government official has called on all other Asian leaders to rally behind Aung San Suu Kyi.
[21]
On
June 17,
2007, Aung San Suu Kyi's 62nd birthday, Senators
Mitch McConnell and
Diane Feinstein in the
United States Senate urged the continuation of trade sanctions on the Myanmar government. In a statement, McConnell said "The best gift we can give Suu Kyi on this day is to continue to urge the international community to press for her immediate and unconditional release, as well as the release of all prisoners of conscience."
In his book, "Courage: Eight Portraits" (Bloomsbury),
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown states:
"So Suu Kyi's courage is the courage to sacrifice her own happiness and a comfortable life so that, through her struggle, she might win the right of an entire nation to seek happy and comfortable lives. It is the absolute expression of selflessness. Paradoxically, in sacrificing her own liberty, she strengthens its cry and bolsters its claim for the people she represents."
Nations
On
December 2,
2004, the
United States pressured the Myanmar government to release Aung San Suu Kyi after the announcement that her
house arrest would be extended.
[22]
On
June 17,
2005, there were protests outside Burmese embassies in several countries in recognition of Suu Kyi's 60th birthday, which took place on
June 19,
2005. The protests received international attention.
In late November 2005, the United States again returned to diplomatic pressure, this time in the
United Nations Security Council, strongly urging multilateral action to address the "deteriorating situation" in Myanmar, requesting to put it into the official agenda docket. This action was due largely to a reinstatement of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, an extension of precisely one year. In September 2006, the
United Nations Security Council voted to place Myanmar on the council's agenda.
Organizations
Aung San Suu Kyi has been an honorary board member of
International IDEA and
ARTICLE 19 since her detention, and has received support from these organisations.
The
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, located in Belgium, has granted her the title of
Doctor Honoris Causa.
[23]
In June of each year, the
US Campaign for Burma organizes hundreds of "Arrest Yourself" house parties around the world in support of Aung San Suu Kyi. At these parties, the organizers keep themselves under house arrest for 24 hours, invite their friends, and learn more about Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi.
[24]
The
Freedom Campaign, a joint effort between the Human Rights Action Center and
US Campaign for Burma, looks to raise worldwide attention to the struggles of Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.
St. Hugh's College,
Oxford, where she studied, had a Burmese theme for their annual ball in support of her in 2006.
[25]
Aung San Suu Kyi is the official patron of The Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen, Norway. She received the
Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize in 1990.
She was made an honorary free person of the
City of Dublin (capital of
Ireland) in November 1999, although a space has been left on the roll of signatures to symbolize her continued detention.
The Bommersvik Declarations
In
Bommersvik,
Sweden, in 1995 and 2002, two conventions of the
Elected Representatives of the
Union of Burma took place and the following two landmark declarations were issued:
[26][27]
Bommersvik Declaration I
In 1995, during the first convention that lasted from 16-23 July, the
Representatives issued the ''Bommersvik
Declaration I'':
[28]
Bommersvik Declaration II
In 2002, during the second convention that lasted from 25 February to the 1st of March, the Representatives issued the ''Bommersvik Declaration II'':
[29]
Books
Authored
★ ''
Letters from Burma'' (1998) with Fergal Keane ISBN 978-0140264036
★ ''
The Voice of Hope'' (1998) with Alan Clements, ISBN 978-1888363838
★ ''
Freedom from Fear and Other Writings'' (1995) with Vaclav Havel, Desmond M. Tutu, and Michael Aris, ISBN 978-0140253177
★ ''
Der Weg zur Freiheit'' (1999) with U Kyi Maung, U Tin Oo, ISBN 978-3404614356
★ '' (1996) by Fergal Keane, foreword by Aung San Suu Kyi, edited by Tony Grant ISBN 978-0140262896
★ '' (1994) with Alan Clements, Leslie Kean, The Dalai Lama, Sein Win ISBN 978-0893815806
★ '' (1991) ISBN 978-1870838801, 2nd edition 1995
★ ''
Aung San (Leaders of Asia Series)'' (1990) ISBN 978-9990288834
★ '' (1990) ISBN 978-8170231349
★ ''
Bhutan (Let's Visit Series)'' (1986) ISBN 978-0222010995
★ ''
Nepal (Let's Visit Series)'' (1985) ISBN 978-0222009814
★ ''
Burma (Let's Visit Series)'' (1985) ISBN 978-0222009791
Mentioned in
★ ''
Aung San Suu Kyi (Modern Peacemakers)'' (2007) by Judy L. Hasday, ISBN 978-0791094358
★ '' (2002) by Barbara Victor, ISBN 978-0571211777, or 1998 hardcover: ISBN 978-0571199440
★ '' (2007) by Justin Wintle, ISBN 978-0091796815
★ '' (2006) by David Wallechinsky, ISBN 978-0060590048
★ ''
Aung San Suu Kyi (Trailblazers of the Modern World)'' (2004) by William Thomas, ISBN 978-0836852639
★ '' (2002) by Naomi Klein ISBN 978-0312421434
★ '' (1999) by Gustaaf Houtman, ISBN 978-4872977486
★ '' (1998) by Bettina Ling ISBN 978-1558611979
★ '' (1997) by Whitney Stewart, ISBN 978-0822549314
★ '' (1994) by John Parenteau, ISBN 978-1883846053
★ ''
Des femmes prix Nobel de Marie Curie à Aung San Suu Kyi, 1903-1991'' (1992) by Charlotte Kerner, Nicole Casanova, Gidske Anderson, ISBN 978-2721004277
★ ''
Aung San Suu Kyi, towards a new freedom'' (1998) by Chin Geok Ang ISBN 978-9814024303
★ '' (1997) by Mikio Oishi ISBN 978-9839861068
★ ''
Finding George Orwell in Burma'' (2004) by Emma Larkin ISBN 0143037110
Popular media
★ She was featured prominently in
John Boorman's 1995 film ''
Beyond Rangoon'', starring
Patricia Arquette. Suu Kyi was played by Adele Lutz, the former wife of the musician
David Byrne.
★ The jazz saxophonist
Wayne Shorter named one of his compositions after her. The piece is best known from the 1997
Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter duet album, ''
1 + 1''.
★ The Irish rock band
U2's 2001 single "
Walk On" was about and dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi. The multi-artist 2004 compilation album ''
For The Lady'', which featured "Walk On", was banned by the junta.
[30] During
Vertigo Tour concerts in
London and
Glasgow (
June 19 and
June 21 2005 respectively), U2 dedicated performances of "
Running to Stand Still" to her. Other artists, including
Black Eyed Peas,
Coldplay,
Damien Rice, and
R.E.M. have also publicly supported Aung San Suu Kyi's cause.
★ She was featured prominently in the music video for
Damien Rice's collaboration with Lisa Hannigan, "Unplayed Piano", which was written for Suu Kyi after a visit to her, from Rice, in July 2004.
★ In 2003's
MTV Europe Music Awards in
Edinburgh,
Scotland, she was given the "Free Your Mind" award.
★ In a list compiled by the magazine ''
New Statesman'' in 2006, she was voted as the number one "Hero of our time".
[31]
★ On 28th August 2007
Jim Carrey released a video on
YouTube on behalf of the
U.S. Campaign for Burma to raise awareness
References
1. Aung San Suu Kyi — Biography
2. Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi
3. The Nobel Peace Prize 1991 Presentation Speech
4. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s Icon of Democracy, Hope and Grace Under Pressure
5. Obituary: A courageous and patient man
6. Maurizio Giuliano denied entry to Burma after meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi
7. The Depayin Massacre 2 Years On, Justice Denied
8. Suu Kyi has 'major' operation
9. Annan expresses sadness for the resignation of his envoy for Burma
10. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi v. Myanmar, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,
11. After meeting Aung San Suu Kyi, UN envoy leaves Myanmar
12. Burma extends Suu Kyi detention
13. Opposition Condemns Extension of Suu Kyi’s Detention
14. Myanmar's Suu Kyi Hospitalized Nick Wadhams
15. Rare visite
16. Ban Ki-moon calls on Myanmar to release all political prisoners
17. Burmese Daily at Odds With Democracy Advocate
18. Myanmar mercifully extends Suu Kyi detention
19. http://mwcnews.net/content/view/14517&Itemid=1
20. http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=1282
21. http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/05/30/10128726.html
22. US urges Burmese to free Suu Kyi
23. Overzicht Eredoctoraten Vrije Universiteit Brussel
24. Arrest Yourself
25. St. Hugh's Full Moon Ball
26. Burma Library website
27. Burma Lawyers' Council characterizes Declarations as Landmark
28. Bommersvik Declaration I in pdf from the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma website
29. Bommersvik Declaration II in pdf from the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma website
30. for the lady
31. Heroes of our time — the top 50 Jason Cowley
See also
★
National League for Democracy
★
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
External links
★
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Website
★
US Campaign for Burma Website
★
The Burma Campaign UK website
★
The Freedom Campaign
★
Myanmar Agrees to Release Aung San Suu Kyi: Source
★
Aung San Suu Kyi - Summary, biography, excerpts from books
★
An extensive story of her life
★
World Dharma Online Institute dedicated to furthering Aung San Suu Kyi's "Revolution of the Spirit"
★
The Voice of Hope Alan Clements in conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi
★
Sunday Herald article about her ongoing detention
★
The Nobel Peace Prize 1991
★
Nobel Prize press release
★
The Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of Aung San Suu Kyi's son Alexander Aris
★
"Freed Burmese Democracy Leader Proclaims 'New Dawn'" by Seth Mydans, for ''
The New York Times'',
May 7 2002, A3 (only abstract available)
★
On the role of Buddhist meditation and contemplation in Aung San Suu Kyi's politics
★
Nobel Laureates Call for Suu Kyi's Release -
IFEX
★
Damien Rice's page promoting his effort to have Aung San Suu Kyi released and also promoting the CD single ''Unplayed Piano'' by Rice and fellow singer Lisa Hannigan
★
Article 19 Campaign for Aung San Suu Kyi
★
Diplomacy Monitor-Aung San Suu Kyi
★
Free Suu Kyi.org
★
Burma Lawyers' Council website
★
citation in the Order of Australia
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