Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi (; IPA: ; born June 19, 1945 in Yangon (Rangoon), is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar (Burma). A devout Buddhist, Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and in 1991 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a repressive military dictatorship.

One of her most famous speeches is the "Freedom From Fear" speech, which begins:

Personal life

Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of General Aung San, was born on the 19 June 1945. Aung San, Suu Kyi's father, who negotiated Burma's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, was assassinated by rivals in the same year. She lived with her mother (Khin Kyi) and two brothers (Aung San Lin and Aung San U) in Rangoon. One of her brothers, Aung San Lin, died in an accidental drowning when Suu Kyi was eight. Meanwhile, Khin Kyi gained prominence as a political figure in the newly-formed Burmese government. Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in English Catholic schools for much of her childhood in Burma. Her mother Khin Kyi was appointed as Burmese ambassador to India in 1960, and Suu Kyi followed, graduating from Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi in 1964.

Aung San Suu Kyi continued her education at St Hugh's College, Oxford, obtaining a B.A. degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 1967. Upon graduation, Suu Kyi furthered her education in New York, and worked for the United Nations. In 1972, Suu Kyi married Michael Aris, a scholar of Tibetan culture, living abroad in Bhutan. The following year, in 1973, Suu Kyi gave birth to her first son, Alexander, in London. In 1977, she had her second child, Kim.

Political beginnings

Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Myanmar in 1988 to care for her ailing mother. In that year, the long-time leader of the socialist ruling party, General Ne Win, stepped down, leading to mass demonstrations for democratisation, which were violently suppressed. A new military junta took power.

Heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics to work for democratisation, helped found the National League for Democracy on September 27, 1988, and was put under house arrest on July 20, 1989. She was offered freedom if she would leave the country, but she refused.

Detention in Myanmar

In 1990, the military junta called general elections, which the National League for Democracy won decisively. Under normal circumstances, she would have assumed the office of Prime Minister. Instead the results were nullified, and the military refused to hand over power. This resulted in an international outcry and partly led to Aung San Suu Kyi's winning the Sakharov Prize that year and the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. She used the Nobel Peace Prize's 1.3 million USD prize money to establish a health and education trust for the Burmese people.

She was released from house arrest in July 1995, although it was made clear that if she left the country to visit her family in the United Kingdom, she would be denied re-entry. When her husband Michael Aris, a British citizen, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997, the Burmese government denied him an entry visa. Aung San Suu Kyi remained in Burma, and never again saw her husband, who died in March 1999. She remains separated from their children, who remain in the United Kingdom.

She was repeatedly prevented from meeting with her party supporters, and in September 2000 was again put under house arrest. On May 6, 2002, following secret confidence-building negotiations led by the United Nations, she was released; a government spokesman said that she was free to move "because we are confident that we can trust each other". Aung San Suu Kyi proclaimed "a new dawn for the country". However on May 30, 2003, her caravan was attacked in the northern village of Depayin by a government-sponsored mob, murdering and wounding many of her supporters. Aung San Suu Kyi fled the scene with the help of her driver, Ko Kyaw Soe Lin, but was arrested upon reaching Ye-U. She was imprisoned at Insein Prison in Yangon. After receiving a hysterectomy in September 2003, she was again placed under house arrest in Yangon.

In March 2004, Razali Ismail, UN special envoy to Myanmar, met with Aung San Suu Kyi. Ismail resigned from his post the following year, partly because he was denied re-entry to Myanmar on several occasions.

On 28 May 2004, the United Nations Working Group for Arbitrary Detention rendered an Opinion (No. 9 of 2004) that her deprivation of liberty was arbitrary, as being in contravention of Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, and requested that the authorities in Burma set the prisoner free, but the authorities have so far ignored this request.

On November 28, 2005, the National League for Democracy confirmed that Suu Kyi's house arrest would be extended for yet another year. Many western countries, as well as the United Nations, have expressed their disapproval of this latest extension. On 20 May 2006, Ibrahim Gambari, UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs, met with Aung San Suu Kyi, the first visit by a foreign official since 2004. Suu Kyi's house arrest term was set to expire 27 May 2006, but the Burmese government extended it for another year, flouting a direct appeal from U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan to Than Shwe. Suu Kyi continues to be imprisoned under the 1975 State Protection Act (Article 10 b), which grants the government the power to imprison persons for up to five years without a trial. On 9 June 2006, Suu Kyi was hospitalised with severe diarrhea and weakness, as reported by a UN representative for National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma. Such claims were rejected by Major-General Khin Yi, the national police chief of Myanmar.

International supporters

In 2001, Irish rock band U2 released the single "Walk On", which was written about and dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi. The album For the Lady, which features "Walk On", was banned by the junta. During concerts in London and Glasgow (June 19 and June 21 2005 respectively) U2 dedicated performances of "Running to Stand Still" to Aung San Suu Kyi. Other artists such as Coldplay, R.E.M., and Damien Rice have also publicly supported Aung San Suu Kyi's cause.

In 2003's MTV Europe Music Awards, she was given the "Free Your Mind" award.

On December 2, 2004, the United States pressured the Myanmar government to release Aung San Suu Kyi after the announcement that her house arrest would be extended.

On June 17, 2005, several countries from around the world held protests outside Myanmar embassies, in recognition of Suu Kyi's 60th birthday, which took place on June 19, 2005. The protests received international attention.

In late November 2005, the United States again returned to diplomatic pressure, this time in the United Nations Security Council, strongly urging multilateral action to address the "deteriorating situation" in Myanmar, requesting to put it into the official agenda docket. This action was due largely to a reinstatement of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, an extension of precisely one year.

She is featured prominently in John Boorman's 1995 film Beyond Rangoon, starring Patricia Arquette.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been an honorary board member of International IDEA and ARTICLE 19 since her detention, and has received support from these organisations.

In a list compiled by the magazine New Statesman in 2006, she was voted as the number one "Hero of our time".

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel, located in Belgium, has granted her the title of Doctor Honoris Causa.

St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she studied, had a Burmese theme for their annual ball in support of her in 2006.

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