Both of her parents were influential political figures, her father was even involved in negotiating Burmese independence from the British Empire in 1947. After he was assasinated by his rivals, her mother became Ambassador to India and Nepal. Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in an a Methodist English High School and finished her education in Oxford University, England, where she studied Philosophy, Polotics and Economics. She worked for the UN for a while before returning to school to get a PhD in School of Oriental and African Studies, London.
In 1988 she returned to Burma to care for her mother who had taken ill. As she was there, she got wrapped up in pro-democracy demonstrations and became the leader of the pro-democracy movemnts.
If the Military Junta had not taken power that same year, it is said that she would have become prime minister as her anti-violence philosophey and powerful personality had rallied people around her.
The new military regime was not a fan, however. They placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrestb where she was cut off from her family and from her people. Even when her husband was diagnosed with cancer, he was not allowed to come into the country. She was told that she could leave Burma to see him but she knew that if she left, she would never be allowed back in so she made the huge sacrifce of staying behind to fight for her people. The last time she saw the man she loved was christmas, 1995.
She wasn't released until after the 2010 elections in which the military junta 'won'.
These days she is free and fighting to win freedom for her people. She is an inspirational figure for so many, including myself, becasue of her strength and her compassion.
However, the reason I am writing about her on this blog is becasue she is a politician who was stopped from represtention her people and herself just becasue she lived in Burma. Something like that would probably not happen in Austarlia. The truth is that the Freedom of Speech clause in the Decleration of Human Rights is not held in the same esteem depending on where you live in the world. Aung San Suu Kyi was not intitled to an opinion, simpley because of where she was born and where she chose to live.
The Geography of Human Rights is very interesting and Aung San Suu Kyi is very aware of that - so she is trying to make life better for the people in her country, before she moves on to the globe. And that is a philosphy we should all have. Help your own people before you try and heal the world.
Aung San Suu Kyi Amnesty Birthday Message from Amnesty International on Vimeo.
