Today is Aung San Suu Kyi's 64th birthday, and like thirteen previous birthdays, she spends this one under arrest. Her "crime" was trying to incite democracy.The only way the brutal military junta could silence her was to place her under house arrest.In 1991 Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace prize. Her sons Kim and Alexander accepted the prize in Oslo on her behalf while she remained in detention.
It's worth noting that the regime offered to release Suu Kyi if she would leave the country and cease her political activity. At her father's funeral, she had vowed to fight on for her people for the rest of her life, and has paid a steep price for that.
{It's also worth noting that in our own times and in our own country, there are men and women who resolve to fight for their people and who refuse to be silenced, even when threatened with the loss of their housing, their livelihoods, their freedom, and are reviled and ridiculed in the media. I can think of one such woman who would not sell out, and could not be bought, and whose popular straight talking media forum was taken from her. Nevertheless, she is not silent, and not forgotten.)
This backwards and repressive regime in Burma has killed and imprisoned Buddhist monks, and peaceful protesters. They have held their stolen power in Burma since 1990when Suu Kyi's NLD party (National League for Democracy) won 82% of parliamentary votes. The illegitimate regime refused to recognize the election results.
If I could make a birthday wish for Suu Kyi, I would wish for her immediate and unconditional release, for the establishment of a democratic government in Burma and in all countries, and for a world where all Suu Kyis (and Connies) would be not only properly recognized and honored, but allowed to live in freedom and dignity.
The Irrawaddy News www.irrawaddy.org is a good source for info about Burma.
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