The Big Question

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In the peak of the dictatorship in Myanmar, a hero emerged. She had no powers like flight or with the elements. She had the power of words; she could change a country's way of thinking and she did it on her own. She led a country of dictatorship and injustice to a fairer and democratic nation. When all hope was lost, she would arrive and be the light in everyone's darkness. The hero's name was Aung San Suu Kyi. 

 

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San. Aung San is revered as the Father of Burma as he led it from colonial rule to independence. In 1947, when Aung San Suu Kyi was just 2 years old, her father was assassinated by the military who opposed his leadership and democracy. From 1947 to 1988 the military ruled as an unchallenged dictatorship. That was until Aung San Suu Kyi came home to be with her mother who was gravely ill with cancer. She had left Burma and gone to India and graduated with a degree in politics from The University Delhi in 1964. She continued her education at St Hugh's College, Oxford, obtaining a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1967, graduating with a third-class degree and Masters degree in politics in 1968. In Oxford she met her husband Michael Aris and they were married in 1972. She bore two children. Alexander Aris and Dannian Kim Arundel Aris.

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Whilst back in Burma looking after her mother, the People Power Uprising began, peaking on 8 August 1988 (hence they are known as the 8888 riots). Students from the University of Rangoon led protests which spread across the country. They were angry as their country had become one of the world's poorest and they were repressed. During this time, many remembered Aung San's legacy and that is why Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as an icon. 

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Threatened by Aung San Suu Kyi and her political party, the National League of Democracy (NLD), on 20th July, 1989 the military put her under house arrest. She was a threat to their plans. She was meant to stay under house arrest for 15 years but ended up staying for 21 years. She was released in 2010. All her colleagues from the NLD were removed from her house where many of them worked and thrown in prison.

 

When Aung San Suu Kyi learned of her colleagues' imprisonment, she decided to go on a hunger strike. She knew the consequences of what would happen if she died. The military would be under pressure from the world and from the country.  It would cause an uproar. So, the military would agree to her terms. And they were this: My colleagues are to be treated fairly and an election is to be held with free choice. The military had to oblige. 

 

The result of the election in 1990 should have changed the way the country ran. The result was 392 seats to the NLD, 10 to the military. This, in any country would mean instant hand-over of power, but in Myanmar, of course, a law was put in place that said, 'any leader married to a foreigner is not permitted to be the president', which meant the military did not recognise her victory. 

 

In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar despite the lack of recognition of the election results. She was still in house arrest and could not leave, and as Michael Aris said, “I don't think this award has ever been given to someone who was in such a situation that she is in.” And it was true, it was the first time anyone had been awarded the prize and not have the winner be able to receive the award. Aung San Suu Kyi’s son, Alexander, gave an acceptance speech on behalf of his mother. Aung San Suu Kyi had never been so proud of her son. 

 

 

During house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi was bored to say the least. Her phone line was cut by the military which meant she had no news from the outside world or from her family. That was what she suffered for the first 6 years of house arrest. When in 1995 her restrictions were eased, she was allowed a visitor and her family could come but no more than three visitors were allowed. She still could not call but she was given a radio. The only problem was it sucked up a lot of power and caused outages frequently. When the Nobel Prize was being awarded for instance, an outage nearly made her miss her son's speech. She was very worried. 

 

In 1999, Aung San Suu Kyi suffered a great loss. Her husband died of lung  cancer in the UK. While Aung San Suu Kyi knew he was very very sick, despite being allowed' to go, she decided not to leave Burma to be with her husband because she knew that if she left, she would never be allowed back into the country. When she said she was not going to visit her husband, the military was very flustered and tried to get her to leave. When she refused, they could do nothing against it. Her husband understood her reasons and was fine with his kids. Aung San Suu Kyi was not there when Michael Aris died on the 27th March 1999. Aung San Suu Kyi only heard of his death over the radio. They had had small talks from the British embassy. The phone line was cut many times.  

 

What led to her release in 2010? Some believe that she was released because she had spent too much time locked up. I believe she was released because of a change in leadership. The leader in which she was put into arrest under was resigning and the new leader was a kinder, more human-like person. The old leader was a monster and in-humane. The new leader was better and wanted to be liked by the people. By releasing Aung San Suu Kyi, he made friends with many people. 

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He called elections in 2015 and the NLD won a landslide victory over the military. Aung San Suu Kyi held the roles of State Counseller and Minister of Foreign Affairs 2016-2021.

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Myanmar was a democratic notion until 2021. But between those years many horrible things happened. In 2017, the people of the Rohingya minority suffered greatly. The military were doing a thing they called country cleansing. After the Rohingya had attacked one little military out-post, the military decided that they were terrorists and subsequently murdered, raped and slaughtered many thousands of them. It is known as one of the worst religious genocidal since World War II. The military actions have sent 700,000 people fleeing to refugee camps in Bangladesh. The actions committed by the military include rape, genocide, destruction of property and human rights breaches. The military did not act alone. They had the support of the population of Myanmar. This is because the Rohingya minority is Muslim while the rest of Myanmar is Buddhist. Aung San Suu Kyi plays a part in this as she is known to be a human rights icon but whilst the country's leader, she did not defend the Rohingya people. This causes great international controversy.

 

in 2019, Aung San Suu Kyi faced the UN Court of Justice over the allegations of genocide. She denies that the military meant genocide but did make a rare statement: The act of unnecessary force may have been used but any act of genocide is not there.

 

On 1st February, 2021 Burma suffered its third coup. The result was military rule, Aung San Suu Kyi was replaced as leader and was placed back under house arrest. A coup is the seizure and or removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is a violent, illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power by a political faction, military, or a dictator.   It is very hard to really know what is going on. The military tries to hide what it is doing and is very secretive. The country has suffered a lot with COVID and is doing very badly economically. 

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This year, ASEAN threatened to reject Myanmar unless it released hundreds of political prisoners. (ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - it is an important grouping of countries in the region). Being rejected by ASEAN would cause loss of face and Myanmar could not not oblige and so there was the release of many hundreds of prisoners. This was like Aung San Suu Kyi going on hunger strike. The military had to comply. This was important as it showed the world the military's weakness. It wanted the power to stay theirs. And to do that they would do nearly anything.

 

Aung San Suu Kyi has faced many challenges. The death of both her mother and her father was two hard blows. Then she was put in house arrest at the time where she was doing best - at the peak of her power and love. While she was in house arrest, her husband died and she only heard about it on the radio. She won the election in 1990, 392 seats to 10 but it was not recognised. Her reputation has suffered and she has lost decades due to imprisonment.

  

Aung San Suu Kyi made the lives of many people in Myanmar better. She gave people voices and freedom. When all was lost, she stood up to her capturers and rulers. She sparked the revolution in a way. When she arrived from Oxford, she was seen by many. When she was seen, the people remembered her father. Aung San Suu Kyi was the light in everyone's darkness. 

  

I am connected to Aung San Suu Kyi as I have visited the house where she spent 21 years under house. When I was 9, I had my birthday on the plane when my family travelled to Burma, as this was the country’s name at the time, to visit a family friend. I was too young to realize that it might be the last time I see Burma. When I look back, I remember what I witnessed of the life people led in Burma and the amount of death, suffering and poverty that was happening between 2015 and especially, 2017. Our family friend was working to make the country a fairer place. The other way I am connected to Aung San Suu Kyi is when my mum was working for Marie Stopes International Australia, in Myanmar for approximately three years. She was working in women's health in reproductive medicine. She traveled back and forth between Melbourne and Yangon. My interest in Myanmar is due to my mum's connection, my visit and my friend who lives there. The military coup in which she was caught drew my attention to what is happening in Myanmar.