Aung San Suu Kyi - Wonderful Woman No. 33

Aung San Suu Kyi - Born 1945
Burmese Political Activist

Added to the album by a wonderful woman called Tara

She should be president of the universe...let alone just her own country.
Owain, A Wonderful Man

Sometimes I feel the magnitude of just how wonderful many of the women in this album are, may be too great for me to be able to adequately write about in this blog. Aung San Suu Kyi is one of those women, a woman who symbolises peace, democracy and all that should be in the world.

Suu Kyi's parents were both prominent political figures in her native Burma, her father founded the Modern Burmese Army and it was he who negotiated independence from Britain in 1947. In the same year, he was assassinated. Suu Kyi's mother later became the Burmese ambassador to India and Nepal. Suu Kyi travelled well in her early life and became a graduate of Oxford University, having studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She later earned a PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

In 1988, Suu Kyi returned to her native Burma with her husband Dr Michael Aris, initially to visit and tend to her critically ill mother. Her return to the country coincided with major political strain in the country, students, workers and Buddhist monks protesting for democratic reform from the military leaders. Suu Kyi felt compelled to join the campaign and before long was leading the revolt, travelling far and wide organising rallies and calling for peaceful demonstrations to demand democratic elections and political reform. Such demonstrations were militantly combated by the country's army leaders, who had by then seized power from the dictator General Ne Win.

In 1990, a general election was called by the military junta. Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy won the election with 59% of votes, this would have given the party 80% of parliamentary seats and would have seen Suu Kyi become Prime Minister of Burma. Would have... the leaders of the military did not allow this, they nulified the election, refused to hand over power and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest. She remained in confinement for much of the next twenty years, her husband left the country and she was never able to see him again. Despite international pressure, Burma remains to this day under strict martial law, elections were held in 2010 but Suu Kyi refused to take part as she believed they would be unfair, a fear supported by the international community, described by Barrack Obama as "neither free nor fair."

Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and has received a number of other awards and honours for her promotion of democracy, people power and free thought. She is heralded by political figures the world over and is an inspiration to so many. She will forever be celebrated as a symbol of peace.

No matter the regime's physical power, in the end they can't stop the people; they can't stop freedom... We shall have our time.
Aung San Suu Kyi

Thank you, once again, to Tara for her wonderful addition. To finish, a video of Herbie Hancock with a beautiful piece inspired by and named after Aung San Suu Kyi.