Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi: Myanmar’s Saviour?

Myanmar’s future is at the crossroads: peaceful transition to democratic governance or autocratic rule of the military oligarchy. Suu Kyi holds the answer.

Photo of Aung Sun Suu Kyi courtesy: therazor.org

(PENANG,Malaysia) - Undeniably the most talked about figure in contemporary Southeast Asia, Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate continued her steadfast non-violent opposition to the military junta government of Myanmar (the former Burma).

Recent developments in Myanmar of the repressive clamp down by the military authorities of demonstrators led by saffron-robed Buddhist monks and massive arrests throughout the country turned the focus on this slim, mild mannered and soft spoken lady of steel.

Myanmar’s future is at the crossroads: peaceful transition to democratic governance or autocratic rule of the military oligarchy. Suu Kyi holds the answer.

Suu Kyi's father, Aung San, as a young officer. Courtesy: sjsu.edu

Her pedigreed name after her father, the martyred acclaimed national hero of then Burma, Aung Sun (1915-47), made Suu Kyi a revered figure upon her return to her motherland in 1988 following many years abroad. Born on June 19th 1945, Suu Kyi left her beloved homeland whilst in her teens to accompany her mother who was then Burma’s ambassador to India. She left New Delhi for England where she studied at Oxford University.

After her studies she spent a working sojourn at the United Nations in New York. In 1972 she married the Oxford scholar Michael Aris and was blessed with two sons. Four years prior to her return to Myanmar, she published a biography of her father simply titled Aung San (University of Queensland Press, 1984).

Strongman General Ne Win (1911-2002), who seized power in 1962 from civilian Prime Minister U Nu (1907-95), established a military-dominated regime that sought to develop the country through Burmese-style socialism.

More than a quarter of a century later it was apparent that the general had failed in his socialist revolution when the country was plunged into economic disaster and social disorder. Street demonstrations and strikes broke out in 1988 that finally forced General Ne Win to step down. A string of generals assumed power and dutifully suppressed all opposition and dissent from the populace.

Against this background of clashes between the people and the generals, Suu Kyi returned to Yangon (formerly Rangoon) to attend to her ailing mother. She was drawn into the people’s struggle and became one of the founding members and secretary general of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest Courtesy: washingtonbureau.typepad.com

The promised elections of 1990 witnessed the NLD sweeping a majority of the votes. The military authorities intervened and forbade the NLD to establish a government. Although denied a candidacy in the elections owing to her non-resident status and her marriage to a foreigner, Suu Kyi was speedily transformed into the leader and iconic symbol of the pro-democratic elements from within the NLD and from without.

Despite her perennial house arrest at her Yangon residence that attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters at its gates, Suu Kyi’s influence amongst her countrymen was never dissipated. Her determined advocacy of non-violent opposition and persistent struggle against the military junta earned her the respect of world leaders and the international community.

Admiration and recognition of her protracted struggle to re-establish democratic governance to her long suffering people and country was translated into her being a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

The fact that the so-called ‘saffron revolution’ was set in motion – anti-government demonstrations led by Buddhist monks – showed the populace is grasping at the last straws in protesting the repressive military regime. The saffron revolution might be the last bastion of non-violent opposition. It apparently has failed.

The world awaits Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s chess game with General Than Swe, head of the military junta and his colleagues. Both sides are talking tough, undoubtedly for public consumption to appear to be dealing with strength. Politicians are dime a dozen; it is statesmen that are rare.

A compromise political solution is the answer to resolving the Myanmar situation. If Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Clarke could go beyond being politicians and what a wonderful scenario the world had witnessed in post-apartheid South Africa, it is now Suu Kyi’s and Than Swe’s turn to show the nationalist in them and for the ultimate sake of their motherland to take the decisive step. A Malay saying goes: ‘It takes two hands to clap’, are we hearing the sound of clapping?

We sincerely hope and pray …

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OOI Keat Gin is an associate professor and coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Research Unit (APRU) in the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.

He has written a number of important books that are available on the Internet, including Southeast Asia: "A Historical Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor", "From Colonial Outpost to Cosmopolitan Centre: The Growth and Development of George Town, Penang, from late 18th century to late 20th century", "Rising Sun Over Borneo: The Japanese Occupation of Sarawak, 1941-1945", "Japanese Empire in the Tropics: Selected Reports and Documents of the Japanese Period in Sarawak, Northwest Borneo, 1941-1945" and Of Free Trade and Native Interests: The Brookes and the Economic Development of Sarawak, 1841-1941.

The staff of Salem-News.com is very thrilled that Professor OOI Keat Gin is taking time out of his busy schedule in Malaysia to write articles for our Internet publication. He understands that Americans are watching events in Myanmar develop from afar, that they are very curious. It is his hope and ours that our visitors will gain a more direct understanding of these world events from a person whose life is dedicated to the development of peace on the Asian continent.