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Paying the ultimate personal price (r)



Subject: Paying the ultimate personal price for Burma's freedom

The Nation 29, March 1999
Editorial & Opinion


Paying the ultimate personal price for Burma's freedom
*****************************************

Michael Aris never did have the chance to say a final goodbye to his
wife, Aung San Suu Kyi, writes Yindee Lertcharoenchok.

In the academic world, British scholar Dr Michael Aris had his own
strong credentials as an authority on Tibet and Himalayan studies. But
ironically, he would be best remembered as the husband of one of the
world's most
renowned political leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.

The Oxford don died from prostate cancer at Churchill Hospital in Oxford
early Saturday morning, the day he was to have a small private family
get-together for his 53rd birthday. Sadly, his last wish to have a
chance to say goodbye in person to his wife in Rangoon was never
fulfilled as the Burmese junta had persistently refused to grant him a
visa.

With him in his last hours were his close family members, particularly
his two sons, Alexander and Kim, who have, along with their parents,
bravely gone through much agony and sacrifice when Suu Kyi decided to
stay on in
Burma after returning there in April 1988 to tend to her dying mother
Daw Khin Kyi.

In the introduction to his wife's book ''Freedom from Fear'', Aris wrote
that it was that decisive event on July 23, 1988, when Burmese leader
General Ne Win, under the pressure of a popular uprising, declared that
he would step down and allow a referendum on the future of Burma that
Suu Kyi decided the time had come for her to step forward in the Burmese
political scene.

Privately, the Aris family had suffered and sacrificed tremendously over
the past decade when the Burmese military rulers decided to exploit them
on a number of counts to break Suu Kyi's physical and mental strength.
Although
they allowed Aris and the two boys to visit Suu Kyi occasionally even
when she was illegally placed under house arrest between July 1989 and
July 1995, they had expected that these family reunions would eventually
force her to
leave Burma.

Virtually every member in the Aris family was not spared the regime's
dirty ploys. After a family reunion in July-September 1989, the ruling
generals decided to cancel the Burmese passports of Alexander and Kim,
claiming that they were not entitled to Burmese citizenship. ''Very

obviously the plan was to break Suu's spirit by separating her from her
children in the hope that she would accept permanent exile,'' Aris
wrote.

Suu Kyi herself has silently suffered from the regime's incessant
campaigns of character assassination. Apart from numerous threats, they
have tried to deport her by force despite that the fact she is a Burmese
born in Burma and
holds a Burmese passport. She has refused to grant the regime its wish
for her to go into foreign exile, arguing that other Burmese people have
suffered much more personal losses and grievance under one of the
world's
most repressive regimes.

Their latest trick which cost the couple dearly was depriving Michael
and Suu Kyi their last chance to be together for a final goodbye. She
refused the regime's pressure for her to go and see her dying husband in
England,
knowing that she would never be let back in her home country. Aris' last
visit to his wife was over three years ago when he spent Christmas and
New Year with her.

Throughout Suu Kyi's non-violent struggle, it was Aris who had silently
watched and supported her, physically and spiritually, from behind the
scenes. Most important of all, he kept to his last breath the pledge he
had given before their marriage on Jan 1, 1972, that should Burma and
its people need her, he will not stand in the way. ''I only ask one
thing, that should my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by
them,'' was Suu Kyi's request.

As a father, Aris tried his best to look after the two sons who lost
their mother to the Burmese political movement at a tender age when
maternal love, care and attention were most needed. Guests to the
family's beautiful house
in Park Town -- a quiet neighbourhood in Oxford -- were often given a
tour of their home including a rare glimpse of the master bedroom where
Michael kept the beautifully framed 1991 Nobel Peace Prize certificate
he and his
two sons received on behalf of Suu Kyi in Oslo. Also there, is a large
collection of books the couple had accumulated throughout their
scholarly years, hers on Burma and his on Tibet and the Himalayas.

Suu Kyi has only praise and appreciation for the soft-speaking, ever
modest and courteous Aris. He knew that Suu has put her country and its
people before her own priorities and will never give in or give up until
she achieves her objective. His deep personal torment of living
thousands of miles apart were kept to himself but the grievance was
evident when he spoke of the woman of his life.

Throughout those lonely years, Aris was often invited to give speeches
or receive awards at various international functions across the globe on
behalf of his wife. But it was academic work and research which had kept
him busy
and thus gave him solace. In fact, Aris himself had earned worldwide
recognition for his academic excellence in the field of culture and
political history of Tibet and the Buddhist Himalayas.

Aris was born on March 27, 1946, in Havana, Cuba. After completing his
BA in 1967, he spent seven years working as a private tutor to the royal
family of Bhutan and was also the head of the Bhutanese government's

Translation Department. After their marriage, Aris and Suu Kyi shared
many trips and periods of residence in the Himalayas including Bhutan,
Nepal, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

In 1974, Aris began his post-graduate studies in Tibetan literature at
the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London
and became a research fellow at several colleges of Oxford University
after his
graduation. He had supervised graduate students on both sides of the
Atlantic and was a visiting professor of Tibetan and Himalayan studies
at Harvard University between 1990 and 1992. He then returned to Oxford
and
re-joined the Asian Studies Centre of St Antony's College as a senior
research fellow -- the position he held until his death.

He had given many lectures and written a wide range of articles and
publications including ''Bhutan: Aspects of Culture and Development'',
co-editor, (1994); ''The Raven Crown: The R ise of Monarchy in Bhutan''
(1994); ''Lamas, Princes and Brigands'' (1992); ''Hidden Treasures and
Secret Lives'' (1989) and ''Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan
Kingdom'' (1979).

For her husband who had unfailingly supported her throughout their 27
years of marriage, Suu Kyi had these final touching words. ''I have been
so fortunate to have such a wonderful husband who had always given me
the
understanding I needed. Nothing can take that away from me.''

As the only remaining pillar of the family, Suu Kyi understands that her
two sons need her. It remains to be seen how the Burmese regime will
treat this latest twist of events and if they would reject the wish of a
mother who
wants to be reunited with her two grieving sons in Rangoon as soon as
possible.

Ending his introduction in Suu Kyi's ''Freedom from Fear'', Aris wrote
of his selfishness for wishing that the Nobel Peace Prize would bring
about political dialogue and lasting peace in Burma and that the
situation would
be eased for the family to be able to reunite. ''We miss her very
much,'' he ended the chapter. But these days it will be Michael Aris
himself whom the family and the academic world will sadly miss.

The Nation