Myanmar’s celebrated democracy campaigner, Aung San Sui Kyi, is the only Nobel peace prize laureate to languish in detention for over 14 years.
Prologue
Burma officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. India is on the northwest of Myanmar with the Andaman Sea defining Myanmar’s southern periphery.
Aung San Sui Kyi was born on June 19, 1945 at Rangoon, while Burma was under British rule. Her father General Aung San was responsible for the creation of Burma Independence Army and her mother Ma Khin Kyi was the Ambassador of Burma in India. Her father was killed on July 19, 1947 only a few months before Independence of Burma on January 4, 1948. Burma functioned as a democratic republic from 1948 to 1962. As a child Sui Kyi studied in India from 1960 and went on to Oxford for her further studies. After her marriage with Dr.Michael Aris, she helped Aris in Himalayan studies and she also worked in UN as a specialist in South Asian relations.
Unfortunate End of Democracy
In 1962, there was a military coup in which General Ne Win became the military commander and military regime was set in place. Sui Kyi continued to live in London till her mother fell ill in Rangoon in 1988. The military regime also continued till 1988 and there was a proposal to hold elections in 1988 after General Ne Win resigned. By then, Kyi was 43 years old. Kyi used this opportunity to bring the people of Burma together to ensure freedom from military regime. She formed a party named ‘National League for Democracy’ (NLD). She held a public rally in favour of NLD, which was attended by about 5 lac people. The military leaders felt threatened and at the first opportunity put her under arrest.
Despite being in arrest, Dr.Aung San Sui Kyi, won 82% of the popular vote in 1990, but she has never been allowed to hold office. Instead, since the election, she has been under intermittent arrest, house arrest, surveillance, and is prohibited from taking part in political activities. Because she chose not to abandon her countrymen and women, exile was not an option. The Government on several occasions advised her to go to any other country, so that, she may live free. But she refused to leave her people.
Nobel Laureate
In 1991, she won the Nobel Peace Prize "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.". She believed in the ‘Policy of non-violence and civil disobedience’ to get freedom for her countrymen. .
Nobel prize was given to her for her efforts to get freedom for her country from her own fellow citizens who are military rulers. She continues her fight against oppression. She always believed that "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it." Fearlessness is the best response to governmental violence. A part of the money she received as award in Nobel Peace Prize helps fund London-based charity Prospect Burma, who provide higher education grants to Burmese students.
At the Nobel Prize awards ceremony for Aung San Sui Kyi in December 1991, she was still being held in detention by the military dictatorship in Myanmar and could only be represented by her two sons, her husband and her picture facing the audience.
Current Status.
Living under a brutally repressive regime, the people of Burma, for years, have been crying out for democracy. Yet, other than lip service found on the U.S. State Department's web site and some nearly meaningless economic pressure, the U.S. Administration has largely ignored Burma. Why? Perhaps, because, unlike Iraq, Burma is not a major exporter of oil.
She could have led a life of academic research and comfort in Oxford, England, but left her family and returned to Burma to lead a pro-democracy movement, courageously enduring the barbaric military rule of her native land. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Aung San Sui Kyi is a non-violent liberator in a nation run by a junta that kills dissenters at will. She seeks no materialistic rewards, just freedom for her people. Hence she is languishing in detention.
She is still under detention, separated from her family, despite efforts of many governments and the United Nations to secure her liberation. A group of Nobel peace laureates only got as far as Thailand in an attempt to bring their petition to the military dictators who hold her. In 1994, however, a U.S. congressman was permitted to see her, and, as a result of mediation by a Buddhist monk, she had a conference with members of the government.
Conclusion
Sui Kyi unites deep commitment and tenacity with a vision in which the end and the means form a single unit. The most important elements of her policy are: democracy, respect for human rights, reconciliation between groups, non-violence, and personal and collective discipline.
As per Hindu e-Newspaper dated 13-12-2009, Myanmar’s military Government is considering her ‘appeal for release’. Aung San Sui Kyi has something to teach all of us about the importance of fighting for democracy and the sacrifices we all must take to insure its survival.
As for Dr. Aung San Suu Kyi, she is fighting to free her country and not languishing.
