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