A FINAL, PERSONAL SACRIFICE

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

ASIAWEEK April 9, 1999

A FINAL, PERSONAL SACRIFICE
Suu Kyi's husband dies without seeing her
By Roger Mitton


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AT THE END OF last year, Michael Aris, the long-suffering British husband of
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was told that his prostate
cancer had spread and that he had only a short time to live. His dearest
wish was to see his wife, whom he married in 1972 (they have two sons,
Alexander and Kim, both in their 20s). Over the past decade, Aris has only
been allowed to see her on five brief occasions, the last time in January
1996. Those visits always focused media attention on the beleaguered Suu
Kyi. That infuriated the ruling junta, which has taken an increasingly harsh
line toward Suu Kyi and other members of the National League for Democracy
(NLD), which handsomely won the 1990 elections but has never been allowed to
take power.
Knowing that to politicize Aris's visa application would doom it to failure,
the family kept it secret. But weeks, then months, went by with no word from
the Myanmar authorities. Quiet lobbying by Western governments, U.N. leader
Kofi Annan and, more potently, by sympathetic nations like Brunei, Japan,
Malaysia and Singapore, did not sway the generals. By mid-March, with Aris
at death's door, discretion was cast aside and an attempt made to shame the
junta into granting a visa by publicizing the dying man's last wish. The
junta coolly replied that nothing was preventing such a meeting, since the
healthy Suu Kyi could travel to England to see Aris. She refused to go. Suu
Kyi feared that if she left the country, she would not be allowed back in.
The junta promised it "saw no difficulty" in her returning provided she
didn't use the visit for political purposes. But Suu Kyi distrusted the
generals. Meantime, her only contact with the fading Aris was by telephone
from the British Embassy (her own line is routinely cut). It was clear he
would not receive a visa. 

Aris died March 27, on his 53rd birthday, in Oxford. The grieving Suu Kyi
remained within her compound, disdaining the junta's suggestion she go to
England for the funeral. She said: "I feel so fortunate to have had such a
wonderful husband who has always given me the understanding I needed;
nothing can take that away from me." A Tibetan scholar at Oxford University
and once a private tutor to the royal family of Bhutan, Aris was a private

and modest man. Former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, who knew
him personally, said Aris had "a calmness and a gentleness that rather
belied an immense inner strength." Aris once wrote of Suu Kyi: "[Before our
marriage,] she constantly reminded me that one day, should she have to
return to Burma, that she counted on my support at that time, not as her
due, but as a favor." After she was put under house arrest in 1989, he
worked tirelessly to help his wife in any way he could. But while many spoke
of the deep love binding the couple, others mentioned reports of an
estrangement.

Suu Kyi was scheduled to attend a Buddhist memorial ceremony for Aris in
Yangon on April 2. The generals sent a message of condolence and urged an
end to the "politicizing" of the matter. But even on the day Aris died, the
state media ran its usual scabrous cartoon viciously lampooning Suu Kyi. At
least now the junta can't challenge her loyalty to Myanmar or say she ought
to return to her husband in England. Why, though, didn't the junta seize the
opportunity to improve its image by letting Aris visit? Most likely because
the generals feared his trip would actually make them look worse by
reminding people of Suu Kyi's predicament. Some in the NLD supposedly
privately wished for Aris to die in Yangon, saying "it would be good
publicity for us." 

Still, there are doubts about Suu Kyi's obdurate attitude toward the
generals, especially her insistence that only she can represent the NLD in
any dialogue. The generals always retort that they'll speak to anyone but
Suu Kyi. Her posturing infuriates even the most sympathetic diplomats in
Yangon. But Australia's Evans strongly defends her, saying: "Suggestions
that are emerging that Suu Kyi cannot lead the way forward and should no
longer be regarded as the centerpiece of the democratic movement's struggle
should be absolutely rejected." Unfortunately for the bereaved Suu Kyi, such
calls are growing.