Aung San Suu Kyi talks about her days and years under house arrest --

Freed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi tells of her years under house arrest in Burma

* From: NewsCore
* November 18, 2010 6:27PM


NEWLY freed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi gave an insight Wednesday into the daily routine and inner strength that enabled her to endure years under house arrest in Burma.

"It wasn't all that difficult," she told London's The Times.

"I was in my own home. What was I going through? I was simply sitting in my house. I've never been one for going out a lot. I listened to music. I like sketching a bit and so on. I'm a very indoors sort of person, if you like, so it was no great hardship."

She expressed surprise at any perception that she had gone through great hardship, comparing her treatment with those of the estimated 2100 other political prisoners in Burma.

"What do you think it would be like for those who have been imprisoned for years and years and years?" she asked.

"I had regular meditation sessions. I had a lot to do. Really. People seem to be surprised. You want to keep your house clean and tidy - you have to spend some time doing that. And then, of course, reading takes up time and listening to the radio took up a lot of hours every day because I didn't want to miss any of the news about Burma.
"I listened to the Burmese service on the BBC, VOA [Voice of America], RFA [Radio Free Asia], that was about five or six hours every day. It was a big chunk out of my day but I couldn't afford to miss it. Because any news I missed, I missed - no one was going to come in and fill the gaps for me. So that was a duty."

The 65-year-old said she had produced no prison memoir or volume of political writing, explaining: "I didn't write a lot at all because I don't like to -- how shall I put it? -- I don't like to keep writing which might fall into other people's hands."

Suu Kyi has already called for a "non-violent revolution" in Burma as she knuckles down to the task of rebuilding her weakened opposition movement and attempting to open a dialog with the ruling junta.

"I have to confess that I have not really thought that they [the military government] want to talk to me very much but that does not mean that we have to stop trying," she says.

"For me revolution means change, either physical or spiritual or intellectual. It starts in the mind ... and it has to come from the people first. I am immensely touched and honored by the trust that they have in me. But they have to understand that I am not the one who is going to bring about change. They are the ones who are going to help me bring about change."

Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest Saturday, less than a week after a controversial election cemented the junta's decades-long grip on power.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner had been locked up by the regime for 15 of the past 21 years.