They’d locked her up. Written rules specifically to prevent her from succeeding. Flexed their military might.
But Aung San Suu Kyi was not going to back down from her quest to liberate Myanmar from those who had refused to release their grip on the nation for over a quarter of a century.
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Aung San Suu Kyi was born on the 19th of June, 1945, in British Burma, the territory now known as Myanmar. Though she was brought up in a small village, Suu Kyi came from a prominent family. Her father, Aung San, was the founder of the modern Burmese army, and was responsible for negotiating Burmese independence from the British Empire in 1947. He became Prime Minister, but was assassinated that same year, along with eight other members of parliament, by a rival political faction. These deaths are observed annually on July 19: Burmese Martyrs’ Day.
Tragically, around the same time, one of Suu Kyi’s brothers died in an ornamental lake on the family property.
The family – mother Khin Kyi and brother Aung San Oo, relocated to the banks of the famous Inya Lake. A popular tourist spot, Suu Kyi met a range of people with various racial, religious, and political backgrounds.
As soon as she was old enough, Suu Kyi was enrolled at the Methodist English High School, where she showed a propensity for learning languages. Today, she speaks four fluently: Burmese, English, French, and Japanese.
As the Burmese government returned to stability, Khin Kyi began her own rise to prominence, culminating in her appointment as the ambassador to India and Nepal in 1960. Suu Kyi, now aged 15, accompanied her, completing high school before attending Lady Shri Ram College to study politics.
Suu Kyi graduated in 1964, then prepared to continue her education overseas. She gained a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Hugh’s College, Oxford in 1967, and a Masters in Politics the following year. She seemed certain to follow in her parent’s footsteps.
Once completing her studies, Suu Kyi moved to New York City, where she spent three years working for the United Nations.
She would spend the rest of the decade raising a family with Dr. Michael Aris, a student of Tibetan civilisation whom she met in the UK. They married in Bhutan, where Suu Kyi worked for a year as a research officer in the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The couple moved back to England in 1973 for the birth of their first son, Alexander. While Michael returned to study at Oxford, Suu Kyi turned her attention to research for a biography on her father. The resulting work, Aung San, would be published as part of the Leaders of Asia series for the University of Queensland Press. She also released a tourist’s guide to her homeland, Let’s Visit Burma, in 1985, before returning to academia in Japan, India (where Michael now had a fellowship), and finally Burma, where she returned in 1988 to take care of her mother following a severe stroke.
It was fortuitous timing. Shortly after her return, General Ne Win, who had ruled the country for 26 years, finally stepped down. The move sparked the fuel of democracy, and mass protests were held around the nation as part of what would be known as the 8888 Uprising, as it took place on August 8, 1988.
Suu Kyi joined the movement on August 26, calling for a democratic government in front of half a million supporters. It was not to be; a new military regime was established the following month.
Vowing to set the pace for change to the Burmese political specifically. Preaching non-violent action based on Buddhist principals and the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Suu Kyi founded the National League for Democracy (NLD). The party was banned, but Suu Kyi would not be silenced. She travelled the country, speaking with large audiences about the need for a democratic government.
“With the right kind of institutions, starting with the rule of law, Burma could progress very quickly.”
Less than a year later, she was placed under house arrest. Offered her freedom in another country, she refused to leave. Though she lost part of her following as a result, she nevertheless remained enormously popular, especially amongst the nation’s youths.
While Suu Kyi was imprisoned, the former Prime Minister of Burma, U Nu, attempted to form an interim government with support of the opposition. She rejected him wholeheartedly, stating “the future of the opposition would be decided by masses of the people”. Calls in support of Suu Kyi flowed, causing U Nu to resign.
By 1990, the situation was getting worse. A general election was held which would have guaranteed the NLD 80% of seats in parliament, but the military refused to hand over power. International condemnation quickly followed, as did substantial support for Suu Kyi. She received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.
“When the Nobel Committee chose to honour me, the road I had chosen of my own free will became a less lonely path to follow.”
Suu Kyi used the 1.3 million USD prize money to establish a health and education trust for the people of Burma.
After six years, Suu Kyi was finally released from house arrest on July 10, 1995. That year, Michael and her children came to visit during the Christmas break. It would be the last time they saw each other.
She spent the next five years constantly harassed by the military, often to the point of violence. In response, she founded a representative committee and declared it Burma’s official ruling body.
Meanwhile, back in London, Michael was dying of prostate cancer. He requested entry to Burma in order to visit Suu Kyi one last time, but was refused. The military urged her to visit him, but she knew that they would never let her return. He died in March 27, 1999.
In September of 2000, Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest once more. This time, she was held for just under two years, but would be sent back in 2003 after her supporters clashed with pro-government demonstrators.
In total, Suu Kyi spent 15 years of a 21-year period under house arrest. “As a mother, the greater sacrifice was giving up my sons, but I was always aware of the fact that others had given up more than me. I never forget that my colleagues who are in prison suffer not only physically, but mentally for their families who have no security outside- in the larger prison of Burma under authoritarian rule.”
Delegations from the UN were in constant dialogue with the junta in an attempt to free her. When this failed, they turned to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to find reason to demand her release, but the government responded by saying she had not been arrested, “…only been taken into protective custody, for her own safety”.
Suu Kyi was almost thrown into jail in 2009 when an American man swam across the lake to her family home, where he stayed for three days. He was released from Burmese custody under the instruction of U.S. Senator Jim Webb, but as a result, Suu Kyi faced five years of confinement. The prosecution were allowed to call 14 witnesses; the defence, only one. She was eventually sentenced to three years of hard labour, but this was reduced to a further 18 months home arrest.
Finally, on November 13, 2010, Suu Kyi was released from prison, six days after a controversial general election.
Immediately, she stepped forward on the path to change once more. In 2011, she sat down with the government, and negotiated the release of 10% of the country’s political prisoners. Soon after, the NLD re-registered as a political party. Though her foreign marriage meant she could not run for the presidency (a rule that seems to have been set in place specifically to make her ineligible), Suu Kyi’s endeavours were greater than her personal accomplishments.
By-elections loomed in 2012, and Suu Kyi beseeched international media to watch the proceedings carefully. “Fraud and rule violations are continuing, and we can even say they are increasing,” she warned a week before election.
On April 1st, Suu Kyi won her seat. In total, the NLD won 43 of the 45 contested seats, officially making her Leader of the Opposition. She attended parliament for the first time as an elected official on July 9.
A general election was held in 2015, and the NLD’s position was reinforced. They won 255 seats in the House of Representatives (including Suu Kyi’s), and 135 in the House of Nationalities. It was a ‘supermajority’, and the military were forced to concede.
Suu Kyi became Foreign Affairs Minister, President’s Office Minister, Education Minister, and Electric Power and Energy Minister under President Htin Kyaw, who in turn created a special position to define her position of importance in the government: State Counsellor. In essence, the role gives her primary power over the government.
She has been serving in that position since April 6, 2016.
It has been a long road for Aung San Suu Kyi. She has given up much, and lost even more. However, she has done it all for her homeland, and it is thanks to her that Myanmar finally has the freedom and independence that her father dreamt of so many decades ago.
“I wish people wouldn’t think of me as a saint – unless they agree with the definition of a saint that a saint’s a sinner who goes on trying.”