ADELAIDE VOICES: ASSK, STEADFAST CO

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Subject: ADELAIDE VOICES: ASSK, STEADFAST COMMITMENT

/* posted Wed 6 Mar 6:00am 1996 by DRUNOO@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
/* ---------------" ASSK: Steadfast Commitment "------------------ */
[Adelaide  Voices is a journal published in every two months
and its regular contributors found to be social justice/human rights
activists. Following article is Danny Connel's observation about
Aung San Suu Kyi and her role in Burma democracy movement. Subscription
address:  Adelaide Voices, PO Box 6042, Halifax St 5000,
South Australia. -- U Ne Oo.]


ADELAIDE VOICES (FEB/MAR 1996)
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AUNG SAN SUU KYI: STEADFAST COMMITMENT
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by Danny Connel

There is much written by and about Aung San Suu Kyi which  bears  testimony
to  a  life  lived  with integrity, courage and steadfast commitment to her
people. This article is a compilation of such pieces to create  a  portrait
of Aung San Suu Kyi, a modern saint.

Aung  San  Suu  Kyi  is the daughter of Aung San, Burma's national hero who
fought for independence for Burma from Britain  and  set  up  the  national
army. He was assassinated in 1947 at the age of 32.

He  was,  in  Suu  Kyi's words: "A man who put the interests of the country
before his own needs, who remained poor and unassuming at the height of his
power, who accepted the responsibilities of  leadership  without  hankering
after  the  privileges  and who, for all his political acumen and powers of
statecraft, retained, at the core of his being, a deep simplicity."

His life remains a source  of  inspiration  to  the  people  of  Burma  and
especially to his daughter.

Aung  San  Suu  Kyi,  born  in  1945,  grew  with the new independent Burma
declared in 1948. Her school education was entirely  in  Burma.  In  India,
where  her  mother  was  posted as Ambassador, she continued her studies in
political science at New Delhi University. She gained  a  great  admiration
for Gandhi and for Martin Luther King and their principles of non-violence.

"I FEEL DEEP RESPONSIBILITY
FOR THE WELFARE OF MY COUNTRY "

In  1962  General  Ne  Win,  head  of  the  Burmese  National  Army, seized
government in  a  coup  d'etat,  the  culmination  of  the  army's  gradual
abandonment  of  the firm ideals laid down for it by Aung San. Still in her
late teens, the next step for Suu Kyi at this  time  was  to  continue  her
studies at Oxford.

In  the year following her time at Oxford, she worked at the United Nations
Secretariat in New York, married Michael Aries, spent time  on  scholarship
in  Kyoto  University  in  Japan  and  at  the INdian Institute of Advenced
Studies.

Despite being physically separated  from  Burma,  her  thoughts  and  heart
remained  there.  In  an interview in 1988 she said, "My father died when I
was only two years old and it was  only  when  I  grew  older  and  started
collecting  material on his life that I began to learn how much he achieved
in his 32 years. I developed  an  admiration  for  him  as  a  patriot  and
statesman. Because of this strong bond I feel a deep responsibility for the
welfare of my country."

THE MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR A REAL CHANGE
WAS EMBRACED BY THE PEOPLE ENTHUSIASTICALLY

IN March 1988, Suu Kyi received news in Oxford that her mother had suffered
a severe stroke. She departed for Rangoon immediately. MIchael Aris writes:
"After three months helping to tend her mother in hospital day and night it
became  clear  to  Suu and the doctors that her condition would not improve
and Suu decided to bring her back  to  the  family  home  in  Rangoon.  The
familiar  surroundings  andthe help of a dedicated medical team promised to
ensure that her remaining days would be peaceful ... we flew out to Rangoon
to find the house an island of peace and order  under  Suu's  firm,  loving
control."

Uprisings  had  begun  in  1987 against Ne Win's dictatorship, now 26 years
old. General Ne Win, in response to growing pressure,  promised  to  resign
and   hold  a  referendum  on  the  country's  future.  However  after  the
resignation the army refused the referendum and it was clear  that  Ne  Win
still controlled the military.

MIchael  Aris  writes:  "Suu's  house  quickly  became  the  main centre of
political activity in the country ... Yet despite all the frenetic activity
in her house, it never really lost the sense of it being a  haven  of  love
and  care ... I shall never quite understand how she divided her efforts so
equally between the devoted care of her incapacitated mother  and  all  the
activity  which brought her the leadership of the struggle for human rights
in her country. It has something to do with her inflexible  sense  of  duty
and her sure grasp of what is right and wrong."

1988  saw  tremendous  bloodshed  and  violence  all over Burma. On the 8th
August  3,000  protesters  were  killed  in  Rangoon  and  possibly  10,000
nationwide.  On  26th  August  Suu  Kyi  began a campaign which rook in the
entire country and involved one thousand public addresses.

"THE QUINTESSENTIAL REVOLUTION IS THAT OF THE SPIRIT ..."

The message  of  hope  for  a  real  change  was  embraced  by  the  people
enthusiastically. Despite it being a difficult message and despite attempts
by  the  dictatorship  to  slur  her reputation, Suu's popularity grew. Her
ideas which stem largely from  Buddhist  teaching  on  self  sacrifice  and
service  were  now  aired. She writes: "It is true that years of incoherent
policies, inept official measures, burgeoning inflation  and  falling  real
income  had  turned  the country into an economic shambles. But it was more
than the difficulties of ekeing out a barely acceptable standards of living
that had eraded the patience of a people - it was also teh humiliation of a
way of life disfigured by corruption and fear ..."

"The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit ...It is not enough to
merely call for freedom, democracy and human rights.  There  has  to  be  a
united  determination  to  persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in
the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire,
ill will, ignorance and fear ... Saints, it has been said, are the  sinners
who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in
the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and uphold the
disciplines which will maintain a free society."

THE ELECTION REMOVED THE MILITARY'S LEGITIMACY
AND AUNG SAN SUU KYI PROVED IT COULD BE DONE NON-VIOLENTLY

In  July  1989  Aung San Suu Kyi was prevented by soldiers from leaving her
home. This began six years of house arrest, intended to break her spirit by
cutting her off completely from family and colleagues. She began this  term
with  a  fast  in protest at not being placed in prison with her colleagues
and concerned that fellow political prisoners would be badly treated. After
she gained assurances from the military, she took food after eleven days of
water only.

IN 1990 the party  Aung  San  Suu  Kyi  formed,  the  National  League  for
Democracy,  won  an  overwhelming victory of 80% of the seats. The election
served to completely remove the military's legitimacy and Aung San Suu  Kyi
proved it could be done non-violently.

Burmese  exiles have continued to alert the world to the violent oppression
of their people and it has been these voices and the growing recognition of
aung San Suu Kyi, through prizes and awards including the Nobel Peace Prize
and Sakharov Prize for Freedom of  Thought,  which  eventually  forced  her
goalers to free her unconditionally. IN JUly 1995 she walked from one prison
into  a  larger one saying, "I am released, that's all," immediately taking
up where she left off.

Archbishop  Desmond  Tutu  compared  her  attitude  on  release  to  Nelson
Mandela's.  She  felt  no bitterness or ill will but was concerned only for
talks and reconciliation. She has spoken publicly many  times  since  then,
calling  for  greater  pressure  to be put on the dictatorship to hand over
power.

Aung San Suu Kyi's commitment to reconciliation was promised in 1992  in  a
short  article  appearing  in the Far Eastern Economic Review. This article
together with her writings entitled "Freedom From  Fear"  have  become  the
guiding principles for people engaged in the non-violent movement.

Her  critics  (especially  the military junta) say that Aung San Suu Kyi is
too inexperienced to lead the country. But she has shown, time  and  again,
the  courage and broad mindness which any truly good democratic leader must
have.

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