Titans of History

Since she returned to Burma in 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi has been consistently repressed by the Burmese military dictatorship. Under almost permanent house arrest, she has been denied access to her family and her supporters, she has been threatened, and the government has tried to bribe her. All without success: they cannot stifle her—a prisoner of conscience whose determination to fight for her country’s freedom has prompted her to sacrifice her own.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of one of Burma’s most inspirational politicians, Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947 as he led the country to independence from Britain. Suu Kyi, who was just two when her father was killed, left the country as a teenager when her diplomat mother, Khin Kyi, was posted to India. After taking a degree at Oxford University, Suu Kyi settled in the city, marrying an academic, Michael Aris, and raising two children.

The country of Burma (now Myanmar) has been ruled by a military junta since a coup in 1962 led by Ne Win, who established a one-party state, dissolved Parliament, curtailed civil rights, arrested opponents, nationalized business and set about marginalizing ethnic minorities. Ruthlessly crushing protests, riots and—in 1976—an attempted coup, he handed over the presidency in 1981 to San Yu, but remained firmly in control as chairman of the Burma Socialist Program Party, handpicking army officers and ministers.

Obsessed with numerology, Ne Win bizarrely revised the currency in 1987 into tender divisible by his lucky number—9—destroying the savings of millions. Mounting unrest led to his resignation as party chairman in July 1988. In the same year, the Four Eights Uprising, a massive pro-democracy protest, was crushed in a coup that saw a twenty-one-strong military junta—the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)—take control, led by General Saw Maung. Up to 10,000 protestors, mostly students and Buddhist monks, were killed, causing outrage in a country where the latter are revered as spiritual leaders. The SLORC subsequently instigated a twin program of deforestation—to accommodate mass opium production—and systematic genocide against groups such as the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Kachins (Jingpo), Mons, Rohingyas, Wa and Chin (Zomis). Rape, torture, forced relocation, slave labor and murder have led to over 650,000 people—including 250,000 Karen—being displaced in eastern Burma alone, and around 2 million fleeing to Thailand.

Multiparty elections were allowed in 1990, contested by Aung San Suu Kyi, but humiliating defeat saw the result ignored. The following year Suu Kyi (later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) was placed under house arrest—twice temporarily lifted but later reimposed—for “endangering the state.” A courageous and tireless campaigner for democracy, she is still held today. In 1992 Than Shwe replaced Saw Maung as chairman of the SLORC (later renamed the State Peace and Development Council) and commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw (armed forces).

In 2002, after an alleged coup attempt by his son-in-law and three grandsons, Ne Win died in disgrace, a brief press obituary making no mention of his rule. In 2003, new prime minister Khin Nyunt unveiled a “road map to democracy” but he was replaced the following year by hard-line Soe Win. Two years later, around 100,000 protestors led by Buddhist monks demonstrated in Rangoon against massive fuel-price increases. Close to 3000 were arrested, and at least thirteen monks killed. The same year (2005), work started on a lavish new capital city—Naypyidaw (Abode of Kings)—300 miles north of Rangoon, which included the fortress-like home of General Than Shwe. The city was officially named on March 27, 2006, the annual Armed Forces Day.

Graphic proof of the regime’s paranoia, intransigence and contempt for human life came in May 2008 after Cyclone Nargis struck the country, claiming over 100,000 lives, devastating Burma’s infrastructure and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. For weeks the junta refused to allow relief supplies or foreign aid workers into the country, massively intensifying the suffering and misery of its people. It finally bowed to international pressure but continued to hamper an effective response to the crisis. Yet the regime began to experiment with a thaw, releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and promising elections.