(10/15/91)Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Won

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Subject: (10/15/91)Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Won Nobel Prize

                               The New York Times

                October  15, 1991, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final

NAME: Aung San Suu Kyi

SECTION: Section A; Page 10; Column 1; Foreign Desk


HEADLINE: Burmese Opposition Leader Wins the Nobel Peace Prize

BYLINE: By CRAIG R. WHITNEY,  Special to The New York Times

DATELINE: OSLO, Oct. 14

 BODY:
   Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who became the leader of the opposition to the Burmese 
military Government after returning to her homeland three years ago, was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize today "for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human
rights." 
   Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of U Aung San, the assassinated founder
of modern Burma, has been under strict house arrest in the capital since July
1989.

    The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which announced the award here today, could
not reach her to give her the news. The chairman of the Committee, Prof. Francis
Sejerstedt of the University of Oslo, sent a telegram instead to Gen. Saw Maung,
the head of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council, asking the
Government to pass the citation on to her.
 
'Ethnic Conciliation'

    "She became the leader of a democratic opposition which employs nonviolent
means to resist a regime characterized by brutality," the citation said. The
Nobel Committee said it wanted "to show its support for the many people
throughout the world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and
ethnic conciliation by peaceful means."

   "Suu Kyi's struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil
courage in Asia in recent decades," the citation said.
The New York Times, October 15, 1991                      
                                                                                
   Professor Sejersted said today that he had called Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's
husband, Prof. Michael Aris of St. Antony's College, Oxford, about half an hour 
before the official public announcement here today. He reached him at about 5:20
A.M. in Cambridge, Mass., where he has begun a second year as visiting professor
of Tibetan and Himalayan studies at Harvard University.

   Asked later what his reaction had been, Professor Aris said: "It was not
surprise. It was great emotion, great joy and pride, and also sadness and
continued apprehension about her situation." The couple has been married for 19 
years.

   Although it was her dying mother's illness that had brought her back to Burma
in April 1988, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 46 years old, was propelled into politics 
by the violent protests that struck the country thata year and forced U Ne Win, 
the country's longtime military strongman, to resign that July.
 
Threatened With Rifles

    The army, which Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi said she had been brought up to think 
of as "friends," killed 1,000 people in further protests in September 1988. She 
began to speak out against Mr. Ne Win, who was continuing to wield power behind 
the scenes. 
   She soon became the leader of the National League of Democracy, the strongest
party in the democratic movement.

   "Suu Kyi's goal was a democratic system of government in which all the
regions and ethnic groups would be represented," the Nobel Committee said today.
"Thousands of people joined her movement. Even in regions which had been ravaged
by civil war for decades, large masses of people gathered to hear her speak."

   But the military issued orders under martial law prohibiting gatherings of
more than five people and banning public criticism of the armed forces.
 
Junta Blocks New Parliament

    The governing military council carried out a pledge to hold parliamentary
elections in May 1990, but then simply ignored the results, which gave Ms. Aung 
San Suu Kyi's party 392 of the 485 contested seats.

   Instead the military authorities began a campaign of personal vilification
against the opposition leader, attacking her and the "tainted race" of her
children, who are both at boarding schools in Britain but have retained Burmese 
citizenship. 
   Professor Sejersted said today that he hoped the Peace Prize, which like the 
other Nobel awards this year carries a stipend of about $1 million, would put
pressure on the Burmese authorities to speed her release.

   The junta has offered to let Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi leave the country, but she
has refused to do so unless the military authorities free all political
prisoners, turn power over to civilians, let her address the country over
television and radio for 50 minutes, and allow her to make a public procession
to the Yangon airport.
 
Played the Piano

    During her enforced isolation in the Burmese capital, she often played
Mozart on the piano. The music stopped last year, and anxious neighbors feared
she had been forced to sell the piano to buy food. Diplomats in Yangon believe
she now spends much of her time in meditation.

   The Nobel recipient's name is derived from both her parents' names. The "Daw"
preceding it is the Burmese honorific equivalent of Mrs.

   Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite and thereby revolutionized modern
warfare, established the prizes in his name in a will written in 1895. He

specified that the Peace Prize should go "to the person who shall have done the 
most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or
reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace
congresses."

   In practice the Nobel Committee has frequently used the Peace Prize to
endorse nonviolent struggles waged by political opposition leaders against
repressive governments. In recent years such recipients have included Lech
Walesa of Poland, Andrei D. Sakharov of the Soviet Union, Bishop Desmond M. Tutu
of South Africa and the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet.

   Professor Sejerstedt said that he and his four colleagues, all Norwegians,
had received 90 nominations for the Peace Prize.
 
 
                             --------------------
 
 
Opposition Hails Award

    UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Special to The New York Times) -- The head of the
nominal government that the Burmese opposition set up after the military

disregarded its electoral victory last year declared today that the Nobel prize 
awarded to Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi would give new hope to the Burmese people.

   U  Sein Win,  Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma and a cousin of the Nobel winner, said the award would refocus
world attention on the military regime's abuse of human rights.

GRAPHIC: Photos: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1989 
in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, before she was placed under house arrest. (Sandro
Tucci/Black Star); Prof. Michael Aris, the husband of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
described his reaction as one of "great joy and pride." (Rick Friedman for The
New York Times)
 
Chart: "Making a Political Statement"

    Some recent Nobel Peace Prize winners who were involved in political
movements in their countries and whose award was viewed as a political
endorsement by the Nobel committee.
 
1989: Dalai Lama -- Tibet
 
1985: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War -- United
The New York Times, October 15, 1991                      
                                                                                
States
 
1984: Bishop Desmond M. Tutu -- South Africa
 
1983: Lech Walesa -- Poland
 
1976: Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams -- Northern Ireland
 
1975: Andrei D. Sakharov -- Soviet Union
 
1964: Martin Luther King Jr. -- United States