Aung San Suu Kyi and the Personal Cost of Democracy

Even before her release this past weekend, Aung San Suu Kyi had become one of the world's most compelling figures in the struggle for democracy and human rights. And like many women who emerge as political leaders in less gender-equitable countries, her birthright set the stage for the path her life would take.

Family Legacy
Her father General Aung San commanded the Burma Independence Army and is credited with freeing his country from British colonial rule.  A national hero, he was assassinated when Suu Kyi was just two years old. Her mother Daw Khin Kyi was a nurse and later became Burma's ambassador to India. The youngest of three children and the couple's only daughter, Suu Kyi was the only family member to carry on her father's legacy; her middle brother drowned at a young age and her older brother moved to San Diego and became a US citizen.

Beyond Burma's Borders
Suu Kyi experienced much of the world outside her home country. After attending high school in New Delhi, India, and earning an undergraduate degree from Oxford University in philosophy, politics and economics, she traveled to New York City for graduate work and then worked for the United Nations as Assistant Secretary, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. In 1972 she married Michael Aris (whom she'd met in Great Britain during her college years) and lived briefly in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, but returned to London a year later for the birth of their first child Alexander. After the birth of her second son Kim, she began an extensive writing career which included a biography of her late father. In researching his past, she spent time in Japan at Kyoto University as a visiting scholar.

Voice of Democracy
Suu Kyi returned to Burma in March of 1988 to care for her mother after a severe stroke, and that summer -- after Burma's military dictator of nearly 3 decades stepped down and political demonstrations led to the death of thousands at the hands of the military -- she first spoke out in support of establishing a democratic government. The army seized power in a coup on September 18, 1988 and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council, banning political gatherings and arresting and sentencing citizens without due process.

By the end of September Suu Kyi took on the role of general-secretary of the newly-formed National League of Democracy. Suu Kyi's mother's death prompted her to vow in January 1989 that she would continue to serve the people of Burma as her father and mother had done, until her own death. She campaigned for the NLD even though she was prohibited from standing for election, and on July 20, 1989, she was placed under house arrest without charge or trial -- a violation of her own human rights that she would endure for 15 out of the next 21 years. Although the NLD won the election in 1990 with 82% of parliamentary seats, the SLORC refused to recognize the election results.

For the People
In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but -- still in detention -- was unable to accept the prize in person. She refused an offer by the military government that would grant her freedom if she left Burma and withdrew from politics, and announced that the prize money would be used to establish a health and education trust for the Burmese people. Although she has been repeatedly released and arrested, she has been unable to leave the country, fearing she would not be allowed to return. Because of these restrictions, she has not been able to see her two sons or her husband who died of cancer in 1999. Although Suu Kyi has since become a grandmother, she has never seen her grandchildren.

No Recriminations 
Her release came on Saturday -- six days after Burma's first elections in 20 years. Yet after years of detention, Suu Kyi holds no bitterness or desire for retribution against the military government. In an interview with the BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson, she said:

I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism....I think it's quite obvious what the people want; the people just want better lives based on security and on freedom....I think we also have to try to make this thing happen... Velvet revolution sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent revolution. Let's put it that way.

Now 65 years old, Suu Kyi has no restrictions on her freedom. But she is aware that her pro-democracy stance will always imperil that freedom, and it's a risk she has lived with much of her adult life. As the BBC reports, "she said that she was fully prepared to take the consequences if the military government decided to lock her up again for what she said or did." Will she remain free? Will she succeed in winning democracy for her people? She believes the latter will eventually happen even as she knows the former is an unsure proposition at best.

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