Aung Sang Suu Kyi - Burma
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1991
www.womeninworldhistory.com/
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace
Prize for her courageous stand promoting peaceful accession to
power in Burma (Myanmar), a country held down by a brutal military
dictatorship. The Human Rights Watch World Report in 2005 described
Burma as "one of the most repressive countries in Asia."
Daw Suu has won numerous international
awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Sakharov Prize from the
European Parliament, United States Presidential Medal of Freedom,
and Jawaharlal Nehru Award from India. She has been called the
"Champion of Democracy," and "Heroine of Burma."
She has used her fame to ask people beyond the Burmese borders
to join her struggle for freedom in Burma, saying "Please
use your liberty to promote ours." Asking for economic sanctions
on Burma she has told the world that economics and politics can
not be separated. "Injustice and lack of peace in (Burma)
means injustice and lack of peace for the rest of the world because
it threatens peace and justice everywhere else. We would like
to remind those who are simply looking at the economic benefits
that they hope to reap from Burma today that they are working
against their own long term interest and the long term interests
of the international community in general."
Daw Suu's promotion of democracy against
military rule began in 1988 when she returned to Burma from London
to nurse her dying mother. It was a time of massive peaceful demonstrations
led by students who were demanding a democratic multi-party system.
Because she was the daughter of an assassinated national hero,
General Aung San, she was called upon to give public speeches.
On 26 August she addressed a rally of 500,000 gathered in front
of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. "I could not, as my father's
daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on," she
says. "This national crisis could, in fact, be called the
second struggle for independence." She also joined the newly-formed
National League for Democracy (NLD) political party.
The uprising for freedom and democracy
was squashed by the military, which killed thousands. It was,
however, forced to call for a general election in 1990, and Suu
Kyi's party won 82% of the votes. The regime never recognized
the results. Instead, Suu Kyi and others were detained by the
regime, and she has been in and out of arrest ever since, sometimes
in prison, sometimes under house arrest. Her house became the
national center for the democracy movement. Refused even visits
from her family, she has drawn strength from what she calls "engaged
Buddhism," the principle of loving-kindness put into action.
Her speeches, comments, and letters reflect her ideas of self
sacrifice, non-violence, and the value of a democratic society.
*****
Freedom from Fear speech, 1990
It is not power that corrupts but fear.
Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the
scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. Most Burmese
are familiar with the four a-gati, the four kinds of corruption.
Chanda-gati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from the
right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves.
Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path to spite those against whom
one bears ill will, and moga-gati is aberration due to ignorance.
But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-gati, for not only
does bhaya, fear, stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right
and wrong, it so often lies at the root of the other three kinds
of corruption. Just as chanda-gati, when not the result of sheer
avarice, can be caused by fear of want or fear of losing the goodwill
of those one loves, so fear of being surpassed, humiliated or
injured in some way can provide the impetus for ill will. And
it would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom
to pursue the truth unfettered by fear. With so close a relationship
between fear and corruption it is little wonder that in any society
where fear is rife corruption in all forms becomes deeply entrenched.
Public dissatisfaction with economic hardships
has been seen as the chief cause of the movement for democracy
in Burma, sparked off by the student demonstrations 1988. It is
true that years of incoherent policies, inept official measures,
burgeoning inflation and falling real income had turned the country
into an economic shambles. But it was more than the difficulties
of eking out a barely acceptable standard of living that had eroded
the patience of a traditionally good-natured, quiescent people
- it was also the humiliation of a way of life disfigured by corruption
and fear.
The students were protesting not just
against the death of their comrades but against the denial of
their right to life by a totalitarian regime which deprived the
present of meaningfulness and held out no hope for the future.
And because the students' protests articulated the frustrations
of the people at large, the demonstrations quickly grew into a
nationwide movement. Some of its keenest supporters were businessmen
who had developed the skills and the contacts necessary not only
to survive but to prosper within the system. But their affluence
offered them no genuine sense of security or fulfilment, and they
could not but see that if they and their fellow citizens, regardless
of economic status, were to achieve a worthwhile existence, an
accountable administration was at least a necessary if not a sufficient
condition. The people of Burma had wearied of a precarious state
of passive apprehension where they were 'as water in the cupped
hands' of the powers that be.
Emerald cool we may be
As water in cupped hands
But oh that we might be
As splinters of glass
In cupped hands.
Glass splinters, the smallest with its
sharp, glinting power to defend itself against hands that try
to crush, could be seen as a vivid symbol of the spark of courage
that is an essential attribute of those who would free themselves
from the grip of oppression. Bogyoke Aung San regarded himself
as a revolutionary and searched tirelessly for answers to the
problems that beset Burma during her times of trial. He exhorted
the people to develop courage: 'Don't just depend on the courage
and intrepidity of others. Each and every one of you must make
sacrifices to become a hero possessed of courage and intrepidity.
Then only shall we all be able to enjoy true freedom.'
The effort necessary to remain uncorrupted
in an environment where fear is an integral part of everyday existence
is not immediately apparent to those fortunate enough to live
in states governed by the rule of law. Just laws do not merely
prevent corruption by meting out impartial punishment to offenders.
They also help to create a society in which people can fulfil
the basic requirements necessary for the preservation of human
dignity without recourse to corrupt practices. Where there are
no such laws, the burden of upholding the principles of justice
and common decency falls on the ordinary people. It is the cumulative
effect on their sustained effort and steady endurance which will
change a nation where reason and conscience are warped by fear
into one where legal rules exist to promote man's desire for harmony
and justice while restraining the less desirable destructive traits
in his nature.
In an age when immense technological advances
have created lethal weapons which could be, and are, used by the
powefful and the unprincipled to dominate the weak and the helpless,
there is a compelling need for a closer relationship between politics
and ethics at both the national and international levels. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations proclaims
that 'every individual and every organ of society' should strive
to promote the basic rights and freedoms to which all human beings
regardless of race, nationality or religion are entitled. But
as long as there are governments whose authority is founded on
coercion rather than on the mandate of the people, and interest
groups which place short-term profits above long-term peace and
prosperity, concerted international action to protect and promote
human rights will remain at best a partially realized struggle.
There willcontinue to be arenas of struggle where victims of oppression
have to draw on their own inner resources to defend their inalienable
rights as members of the human family.
The quintessential revolution is that
of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need
for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the
course of a nation's development. A revolution which aims merely
at changing official policies and institutions with a view to
an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine
success. Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which
produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be
operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and
regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy
and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere
in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths,
to resist the corrupting influences ofdesire, ill will, ignorance
and fear.
Saints, it has been said, are the sinners
who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying
and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities
and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society.
Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives
might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both
a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which
strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee
against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their
own minds from apathy and fear.
Always one to practise what he preached,
Aung San himself constantly demonstrated courage - not just the
physical sort but the kind that enabled him to speak the truth,
to stand by his word, to accept criticism, to admit his faults,
to correct his mistakes, to respect the opposition, to parley
with the enemy and to let people be the judge of his worthiness
as a leader. It is for such moral courage that he will always
be loved and respected in Burma - not merely as a warrior hero
but as the inspiration and conscience of the nation. The words
used by Jawaharlal Nehru to describe Mahatma Gandhi could well
be applied to Aung San:
'The essence of his teaching was fearlessness and truth, and action
allied to these, always keeping the welfare of the masses in view.'
Gandhi, that great apostle of non-violence,
and Aung San, the founder of a national army, were very different
personalities, but as there is an inevitable sameness about the
challenges ofauthoritarian rule anywhere at any time, so there
is a similarity in the intrinsic qualities of those who rise up
to meet the challenge. Nehru, who considered the instillation
of courage in the people of India one of Gandhi's greatest achievements,
was a political modernist, but as he assessed the needs for a
twentieth-century movement for independence, he found himself
looking back to the philosophy of ancient India: 'The greatest
gift for an individual or a nation . .. was abhaya, fearlessness,
not merely bodily courage but absence of fear from the mind.'
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps
more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage
that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear
dictate one's actions, courage that could be described as 'grace
under pressure' - grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face
of harsh, unremitting pressure.
Within a system which denies the existence
of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day.
Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear ofdeath, fear oflosing
friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty,
fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear
is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning
as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily
acts of courage which help to preserve man's self-respect and
inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned
by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right
to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even
under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again
and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.
The wellspring of courage and endurance
in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the
sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense
that despite all setbacks the condition of man is set on an ultimate
course for both spiritual and material advancement. It is his
capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes
man from the mere brute. At the root of human responsibility is
the concept of peffection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence
to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if
not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual
limitations and environmental impediments. It is man's vision
of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him
to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear.
Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed
as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against
ruthless power.
*****
1991 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
delivered on behalf of Aung San
Suu Kyi, by her son Alexander Aris in Oslo, December 10, 1991
Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I stand before you here today to accept
on behalf of my mother, Aung San Suu Kyi, this greatest of prizes,
the Nobel Prize for Peace. Because circumstances do not permit
my mother to be here in person, I will do my best to convey the
sentiments I believe she would express.
Firstly, I know that she would begin by saying that she accepts
the Nobel Prize for Peace not in her own name but in the name
of all the people of Burma. She would say that this prize belongs
not to her but to all those men, women and children who, even
as I speak, continue to sacrifice their wellbeing, their freedom
and their lives in pursuit of a democratic Burma. Theirs is the
prize and theirs will be the eventual victory in Burma's long
struggle for peace, freedom and democracy.
Speaking as her son, however, I would add that I personally believe
that by her own dedication and personal sacrifice she has come
to be a worthy symbol through whom the plight of all the people
of Burma may be recognised. And no one must underestimate that
plight. The plight of those in the countryside and towns, living
in poverty and destitution, those in prison, battered and tortured;
the plight of the young people, the hope of Burma, dying of malaria
in the jungles to which they have fled; that of the Buddhist monks,
beaten and dishonoured. Nor should we forget the many senior and
highly respected leaders besides my mother who are all incarcerated.
It is on their behalf that I thank you, from my heart, for this
supreme honour. The Burmese people can today hold their heads
a little higher in the knowledge that in this far distant land
their suffering has been heard and heeded.
We must also remember that the lonely struggle taking place in
a heavily guarded compound in Rangoon is part of the much larger
struggle, worldwide, for the emancipation of the human spirit
from political tyranny and psychological subjection. The Prize,
I feel sure, is also intended to honour all those engaged in this
struggle wherever they may be. It is not without reason that today's
events in Oslo fall on the International Human Rights Day, celebrated
throughout the world.1
Mr. Chairman, the whole international community has applauded
the choice of your committee. Just a few days ago, the United
Nations passed a unanimous and historic resolution welcoming Secretary-General
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar's statement on the significance
of this award and endorsing his repeated appeals for my mother's
early release from detention. Universal concern at the grave human
rights situation in Burma was clearly expressed. Alone and isolated
among the entire nations of the world a single dissenting voice
was heard, from the military junta in Rangoon, too late and too
weak.
This regime has through almost thirty years of misrule reduced
the once prosperous 'Golden Land' of Burma to one of the world's
most economically destitute nations. In their heart of hearts
even those in power now in Rangoon must know that their eventual
fate will be that of all totalitarian regimes who seek to impose
their authority through fear, repression and hatred. When the
present Burmese struggle for democracy erupted onto the streets
in 1988, it was the first of what became an international tidal
wave of such movements throughout Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
Today, in 1991, Burma stands conspicuous in its continued suffering
at the hands of a repressive, intransigent junta, the State Law
and Order Restoration Council. However, the example of those nations
which have successfully achieved democracy holds out an important
message to the Burmese people; that, in the last resort, through
the sheer economic unworkability of totalitarianism this present
regime will be swept away. And today in the face of rising inflation,
a mismanaged economy and near worthless Kyat, the Burmese government
is undoubtedly reaping as it has sown.
However, it is my deepest hope that it will not be in the face
of complete economic collapse that the regime will fall, but that
the ruling junta may yet heed such appeals to basic humanity as
that which the Nobel Committee has expressed in its award of this
year's prize. I know that within the military government there
are those to whom the present policies of fear and repression
are abhorrent, violating as they do the most sacred principles
of Burma's Buddhist heritage. This is no empty wishful thinking
but a conviction my mother reached in the course of her dealings
with those in positions of authority, illustrated by the election
victories of her party in constituencies comprised almost exclusively
of military personnel and their families. It is my profoundest
wish that these elements for moderation and reconciliation among
those now in authority may make their sentiments felt in Burma's
hour of deepest need.
I know that if she were free today my mother would, in thanking
you, also ask you to pray that the oppressors and the oppressed
should throw down their weapons and join together to build a nation
founded on humanity in the spirit of peace.
Although my mother is often described as a political dissident
who strives by peaceful means for democratic change, we should
remember that her quest is basically spiritual. As she has said,
"The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit",
and she has written of the "essential spiritual aims"
of the struggle. The realisation of this depends solely on human
responsibility. At the root of that responsibility lies, and I
quote, "the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it,
the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow
that path if not to the end, at least the distance needed to rise
above individual limitation... ". "To live the full
life," she says, "one must have the courage to bear
the responsibility of the needs of others one must want to bear
this responsibility." And she links this firmly to her faith
when she writes, "...Buddhism, the foundation of traditional
Burmese culture, places the greatest value on man, who alone of
all beings can achieve the supreme state of Buddhahood. Each man
has in him the potential to realize the truth through his own
will and endeavour and to help others to realize it." Finally
she says, "The quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle
of a people to live whole, meaningful lives as free and equal
members of the world community. It is part of the unceasing human
endeavour to prove that the spirit of man can transcends the flaws
of his nature."2
This is the second time that my younger brother and I have accepted
a great prize for my mother in Norway. Last year we travelled
to Bergen to receive for her the Thorolf Rafto Prize for Human
Rights, a wonderful prelude to this year's event.3 By now we have
a very special feeling for the people of Norway. It is my hope
that soon my mother will be able to share this feeling and to
speak directly for herself instead of through me. Meanwhile this
tremendous support for her and the people of Burma has served
to bring together two peoples from opposite ends of the earth.
I believe much will follow from the links now forged.
It only remains for me to thank you all from the bottom of my
heart. Let us hope and pray that from today the wounds start to
heal and that in the years to come the 1991 Nobel Prize for Peace
will be seen as a historic step towards the achievement of true
peace in Burma. The lessons of the past will not be forgotten,
but it is our hope for the future that we celebrate today.
1. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations
adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Burma was one
of the states voting for its adoption.
2. These quotations are from Freedom, pp. 183, 185, 174.
3. Thorolf Rafto, Professor of Economic History at the Norwegian
School of Economics and Business Administration, was widely known
for his work for human rights, especially in Eastern Europe. After
his death on 4 November 1986, his friends and admirers established
in his name a Foundation for Human Rights, which every year on
the anniversary of his death presents a prize to champions of
human rights.
From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1991-1995, Editor Irwin Abrams,
World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1999
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