Final edit of A Strange Collection of Clear Victories--The International Gallerie Magazine archive does not allow you to read the entire article--I think my print copy was lost in a fire-- in another city--not my own home.

FINAL EDIT

AUNG SAN SUU KYI: A STRANGE COLLECTION OF CLEAR VICTORIES?

Intro:

Known as one of the world's most prominent dissidents and political prisoners, ‘The Lady’ as she is referred to outside her country, and inside, as Daw [Aunt] Aung San Suu Kyi, lived in under house arrest for more than 15 years. As leader of the NLD, National League for Democracy, she has opposed the 50 years of military regime in Burma while consistently championing her belief in democracy, which was shaped during her student years in India. Her life is a chronicle of challenges she has experienced and overcome with unmatched courage. Influenced by the tenets of Buddhism and Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, she is today, almost ascetic in her approach to life and politics. Yet, she can be entirely down-to-earth, for instance, in her criticism of the Indian Governement. During her recent visit here, she admonished it for having strayed away from Gandhian ideals and also for not having supported Burma in its struggle for democracy. [HERE, PLEASE ADD BRIEFLY, why you call hers A STRANGE collection of clear victories. I like the title but do not want to give off wrong signals This article’s title is based on her name – and its meaning in the Burmese language. “San” means strange or unusual. A lone woman standing up in non-violence against an entrenched military regime is certainly extraordinary. ]

As a dissident activist, Aung San Suu Kyi’s is the sum of a life lived with true integrity and grace.

During his historic six-hour visit to Rangoon, Burma, newly re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama mispronounced Aung San Suu Kyi’s name twice, calling her “Aung Yann Suu Kyi” – one almost saw Suu Kyi hiding her wince.

Yann means “reckless.”

Her real name is:

Aung San — from her famous father — the George Washington of Burma.

Aung = victory or victorious.

San= strange, glorious or unique, rare or scarce.

Suu — her own given name, based on the day of the week on which she was born, and the name of Aung San’s mother, whose father was hanged by the British during the Saya San uprising of 1920.

Kyi – based on her mother’s Monday-born name. Kyi in Burmese means “clear”.

As Jack Healey, the former director of Amnesty International said, “We should learn how to pronounce her name correctly.”

Be that as it may, on Nov 13, 2010, a week after the rigged election, the junta released her from her third bout of house arrest, which had started from a roadside ambush — and is now known as the Depayin Massacre. Daw Suu was truly between a rock and a hard place. She cannot be blamed for having sent out feelers that she could help get sanctions lifted in exchange for being treated better by the junta, now hiding behind its front man, the so-called “moderate” PM turned President. Thein Sein went to see her and for the first time in junta history, complimented her in a public space saying, "As a Myanmar citizen, I would like to congratulate her for the honors she has received in this country in recognition of her efforts for democracy." When Obama called her last year, she had only to say “I trust Thein Sein. I think I can work with him,” for the U.S. President to send Secretary of State Mrs. Hilary Clinton to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi. This unleashed an unreasonable euphoria which has only now started to wear thin. On Nov 29, at 3 AM, the junta used deadly force to quell workers and miners demonstrating against the Chinese-owned Wampau copper mine in Letpadaung Township near Monywa. President Thein Sein’s office says it [only] used tear gas and water hoses “in line with international standards” but Radio Free Asia reports an expert saying “there is no way tear gas can start fires” and others have noted the strange nature of the burns, which might denote some kind of chemical weapon. There are now rumors that white phosphorus was used. Eighty monk demonstrators are reported wounded and thirty hospitalised. Aung San Suu Kyi went to Monywa and gave a speech in which she swore to help resolve the issue peacefully. Earlier, BBC 4 uncovered mass graves in Western Burma, where a genocide against the Muslim Rohingya community has been going on since June, even as Suu Kyi travelled internationally and gave impeccable speeches. In the northeast of Burma, the junta, now in civilian dress, broke a 17 year ceasefire. What are the Lady’s prospects in this scorching situation? One should note, she did not win a majority in the April 1 “April Fools’ Day” by-elections — she won the majority of the few seats she and her party were allowed to contest.

Nevertheless, she campaigned all over the country and won once again — demonstrating her immense popularity.

But it is not about popularity, is it?

It is about what the junta allows to happen in Burma.

What seems to have happened is due to a coincidence of wants and needs by major actors: Suu Kyi’s situation was a no-win one.

The junta itself was said to have been scared of what happened in the Middle East, and wanted an exit and an out.

The USA and Europe are in the throes of a major recession — the United States itself hugely indebted to China, which is holding the bulk of its national debt or treasury bills. The foreign media and the Burmese exile media are compromised as they have apparently traded access for “doing PR for the Junta.”

The Lady is losing patience again — she said, “Nothing will happen if the constitution is not changed.” She also said — “The military is already the most powerful entity in the country. We in the parliament [hluttaw] should not make decisions that increase its power.”

Her prospects over-all are not good.

One can argue that they never were.

She can surely win in 2015. But then, what?

Every day on Burmese language news from VOA [Voice of America] and RFA [Radio Free Asia], we see tearful farmers whose land has been taken by the thousands of acres by the junta cronies. We see miners in equal desperation. We see workers, each one a Fantine out of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, who sold her hair, her teeth and her body to stay alive.

Maybe the junta will let Suu Kyi win, and then let her “handle” these deep-seated structural and systemic changes.

Then everyone will hate her. Already there’s a growing chorus of those who think she did not speak up forcibly enough about the plight of the Rohingya.

Like all politicians, she will, when she comes to power, have to pay off supporters. Then she can easily be accused of corruption as Benazir Bhutto was. I don’t wish to sound flippant or disrespectful — she is one of my greatest heroes. But some days I think she should leave mainstream politics and carve out a life for herself as an international figure who is deeply respected. There are speculations about the current government and Aung San Suu Kyi’s equation with it. A recent edition of The Irrawaddy highlights the protest demonstrations against a Chinese-owned copper mine in Kyaukpadaung, Burma, quelled with the junta's old style pre-dawn raid.

Is this "democracy?"

Aung San Suu Kyi at first declined to condemn the junta’s use of force but has since done so.

One commentator says she is now in a zone of half-truths and there are attempts at co-opting her further.

For her safety, I think perhaps she should leave for other engagements; there are opportunities in heading a Burma Foundation overseas like the NCGUB (National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma) which had its own think tank division, or in academia, where there is a Chair of Democracy in her honour at the University of Kentucky in Louisville.

She should live and work overseas, even teach sometimes - as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Amartya Sen do – or head a foundation like former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

This will be controversial. There will be a lot of people who want Daw Suu Kyi to do it all; take the risks and do all the heavy lifting.

I may be criticised for my views but I say it from the perspective of an exiled dissenter, and in the hope of a long life for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Kyi May Kaung—

For International Gallerie, Mumbai.

2012