Happy Birthday, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Tomorrow, I'll have the privilege of meeting and interviewing two former political prisoners. My supervisor is a member of a group of former political prisoners, who have an organization in Mae Sot. Afterward, I'm invited to their birthday celebration ceremony for Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Ohng Sahn Sue Chee). I'm so excited I'm not even angry that it will keep me from going away for the weekend. Again.

In the short time I've been here, Aung San Suu Kyi has become a heroine of mine. She is Burma's most prominent advocate for democracy. She is also the daughter of Burma's assassinated independence leader General Aung San. She was raised in India and educated at Oxford, where she met her husband, a Tibetan scholar. She worked in Tibet, Japan and India before returning to Burma with her husband and two children. After a massive student uprising in 1988, Suu Kyi called for the restoration of a democratic government in Burma.

When the military claimed control of the government and established its oppresive regime, she founded the National League for Democracy party, calling for the establishment of democracy through non-violence and civil disobedience. She defied government orders by making a speaking tour through the country, to huge audiences. She continued her campaign despite threats on her life, harassment and arrests and shootings of her party members. She is known to have walked bravely toward rifles pointed at her. When the military allowed elections to take place, they announced that she would be disqualified from office.

She was first placed under house arrest in 1989, without charge or trial. She staged a hunger strike to protest the treatment of her arrested student followers. Despite her detention, her party won 82% of all seats in the election. They were never allowed to take office by the military regime. She remained under house arrest and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She was finally released from house arrest in 1995, after 6 years. She continued to campaign for democracy, as she did before her imprisonment.

Her husband died of prostate cancer in 1999. The government encouraged her to leave the country to visit him, but she refused, knowing she would not be allowed back into Burma. She had not seen him for over 3 years.

She was placed back under house arrest from 2000 to 2002. In May 2003, she and her supporters staged a speaking tour of Burma to promote confidence in democracy. Her motorcade was attacked by people sponsored by the military regime. 100 supportes were beaten to death. She was put in prison, then transferred to house arrest, where she has been held ever since. The military regime recently announced the extension of her house arrest for another year. Her phone line is cut and she is allowed no visitors or letters. She can only see her doctor and maid.

Every minute that she remains under house arrest, she draws more attention to the brutal reign of the military regime, particularly its complete disregard for human rights. For many, she personifies hope that Burma will become a democracy.