"Woman" -- pencil drawing copyright Kyi May Kaung4-15-07
Dear Irrawaddy,
I am writing to commend you on your recent cover issue of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi: The Face of Resistance, in your print edition.
Between 2001 and now, I have been to very many international academic conferences on Burma, and sad to say, the majority of them seem to be dominated by the pro-junta, anti-sanctions lobby -- "The Steinberg Cabal."
So it is refreshing, as well as truthful and energizing, to see your Tribute Edition for "Suu Kyi," as your magazine insists on calling her.
I am also glad to see that the direct "eye-witness" accounts by Razali Ismail and Thierry Falise, give the lie to the malicious rumor we were hearing around that time, before the Depayin Massacre in 2003, that "Daw Suu is stubborn." In fact, Ismail writes that she was willing to engage in meaningful dialogue with the generals, and Falise (p.33) writes that she realized the thin line Lt.Gen. Khin Nyunt had to walk, and "advised international diplomats not to expose (him) too much, for fear of undermining any progress he might make."
As it turned out, her fears were justified when Khin Nyunt and his coterie were all deposed and arrested in an internal purge within the junta in the fall of 2004.
Of course, she was absolutely right in saying it had to be real dialogue.
Not just "How are you? And "How's the weather?" In fact, Ismail says she told him that the much vaunted dinner with the generals (photo in Irrawaddy) was just the occasion for a "monologue with the senior general doing all the talking."
I also wish to draw your attention to the fact that on April 5, Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago conducted a Burma and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Focus Day.
Barbara Victor, author of The Lady, a biography of Daw Suu, was the keynote speaker and Prof. Emeritus Clark Neher, Activist Maura Stephens and I were on a panel "Burma: Internationalism and Solidarity: Global Perspectives" moderated by Danny Postel, Writer and Sr. Editor, Open Democracy and introduced by David Leaman, Assoc. Professor, Political Science, NEIU.
For a more detailed write up, please see my blog http://kyimaykaung.blogspot.com/
I hope you will publish this letter, so that people inside Burma and hopefully even Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, will know that she still has our love and support.
Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)
Writer and Analyst
Washington, DC.
Dear Irrawaddy,
I am writing to commend you on your recent cover issue of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi: The Face of Resistance, in your print edition.
Between 2001 and now, I have been to very many international academic conferences on Burma, and sad to say, the majority of them seem to be dominated by the pro-junta, anti-sanctions lobby -- "The Steinberg Cabal."
So it is refreshing, as well as truthful and energizing, to see your Tribute Edition for "Suu Kyi," as your magazine insists on calling her.
I am also glad to see that the direct "eye-witness" accounts by Razali Ismail and Thierry Falise, give the lie to the malicious rumor we were hearing around that time, before the Depayin Massacre in 2003, that "Daw Suu is stubborn." In fact, Ismail writes that she was willing to engage in meaningful dialogue with the generals, and Falise (p.33) writes that she realized the thin line Lt.Gen. Khin Nyunt had to walk, and "advised international diplomats not to expose (him) too much, for fear of undermining any progress he might make."
As it turned out, her fears were justified when Khin Nyunt and his coterie were all deposed and arrested in an internal purge within the junta in the fall of 2004.
Of course, she was absolutely right in saying it had to be real dialogue.
Not just "How are you? And "How's the weather?" In fact, Ismail says she told him that the much vaunted dinner with the generals (photo in Irrawaddy) was just the occasion for a "monologue with the senior general doing all the talking."
I also wish to draw your attention to the fact that on April 5, Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago conducted a Burma and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Focus Day.
Barbara Victor, author of The Lady, a biography of Daw Suu, was the keynote speaker and Prof. Emeritus Clark Neher, Activist Maura Stephens and I were on a panel "Burma: Internationalism and Solidarity: Global Perspectives" moderated by Danny Postel, Writer and Sr. Editor, Open Democracy and introduced by David Leaman, Assoc. Professor, Political Science, NEIU.
For a more detailed write up, please see my blog http://kyimaykaung.blogspot.com/
I hope you will publish this letter, so that people inside Burma and hopefully even Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, will know that she still has our love and support.
Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)
Writer and Analyst
Washington, DC.
