Dissident from Asia Week

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	Excerpt from "The Voice of Hope" Page 107.

Alan Clements:	:I've learned that your funds were so scarce that you had
barely enough to eat and your hair began falling out, and there were times
you were too weak even to get out of bed.

Daw ASSK:	:Yes, there were periods.
 .........................................................................
>From Page 214:

AC:	:Have SLORC ever tried to coerce you to break your association
         with Daw Suu?

U Tin Oo:	:Yes. They used to spread rumours among my friends that I
was associating with her for wrong reasons. Of course, I didn't pay any
attention to them. But while I was imprisoned this last time a SLORC
intelligence officer during an interrogation session pointed a finger and
with raised voice said, "You were a General and the Minister of Defence.
You were mature in your duties. So why are you working for Aung San Suu
Kyi? She has no experience whatsoever of Burma's politics. All she has is
her father's name behind her. Why do you work with a woman who is so
inexperienced?"

	HONESTLY, I FELT SORRY FOR THIS MAN. So I told him, "IF YOU MEET
HER, YOU TOO WILL JOIN THE MOVEMENT. SHE HAS A BRILLIANT AND TALENTED
MIND. EVENTUALLY YOU WILL REALIZE THIS, BECAUSE DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI IS
STRUGGLING NOT ONLY FOR THE PEOPLE BUT FOR YOU TOO."


		SOS: Support Our Suu
		Aung San Suu Kyi Support Group

 .........................................................................

Asia Week (June 20th, 1997)
THE DISSIDENT

Aung San Suu Kyi


IT IS HARD TO TELL WHEN AUNG SAN SUU KYI FINALLY
CONFIRMED THAT HER FATE WAS BOUND UP WITH THE CAUSE OF
DEMOCRACY IN HER COUNTRY. Perhaps it was on July 23, 1988,
when strongman Ne Win announced that he was stepping down
after 26 years of debilitating socialist rule. His surprise
retreat triggered a frenzy of pro-democracy demonstrations. In
the ensuing crackdown, soldiers killed as many as 3,000
people. 

Perhaps it was on Aug. 26, 1988, when Suu Kyi addressed a
half-million demonstrators at Shwedagon Pagoda. With the
crowd's chants of Daw Aye Daw Aye ("Our Rights! Our Rights!")
ringing in her ears, she called for the resignation of the
government and democracy for Myanmar. On Sept. 18, the
military seized power in another round of bloodletting. 

What is clear is that at some point during those fateful
months, Suu Kyi, daughter of Myanmar's independence hero Aung
San, decided to take on the generals. It hardly seemed an even
match: the delicate-boned, 1.6-meter-tall Oxford academic
against soldiers schooled in repression and little else. Yet
the crowds she drew, the attention she commanded and the
courage she displayed and instilled in others, inevitably led
to her becoming the standard-bearer for the fledgling
democracy movement. When two truckloads of troops pulled up
and aimed their weapons at a crowd she was addressing, she
could coolly respond: "We are grateful to those who are giving
the people practice in being brave." 

Such spirit was not allowed to go unchecked. In June 1989,
when she was first arrested, 100 unarmed supporters clashed
with police to try to snatch her back. She was detained for
only an hour then. But a month later, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, or SLORC, as the junta calls itself, put
her under house arrest that persists to this day.

The generals miscalculated if they thought detention would
blunt her appeal. They miscalculated again when they carried
through on their pledge to stage Myanmar's first multi-party
elections in 30 years. Perhaps they thought that with well
over 2,000 candidates from at least 100 political parties in
the race, there was little chance of a one-sided result. 

But Myanmar's 40 million people were of a single mind. In the
May 1990 polls, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won
392 of the 485 parliamentary seats. The military-backed
National Unity Party won just 10. SLORC responded by refusing
to honor the election results and jailing NLD leaders, along
with most of their elected representatives. 

Such flagrant denial of the popular will drew international
condemnation for SLORC, and mounting tributes for the woman
who dared defy them. In October 1991, Suu Kyi was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize. Said the Norwegian Nobel Committee: "Suu
Kyi's struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of
civil courage in Asia in recent decades. She has become an
important symbol in the struggle against oppression." 

Suu Kyi did not plan to become a political activist, let alone
a national hero. She had left her home in England to go to
Myanmar's capital, Yangon, in 1988 to look after her ailing
mother. She had spent most of the previous 28 years outside
her homeland, returning just eight times. SLORC tried to use
that against her, saying she was a foreigner with no real
interest in Myanmar. They also criticized her for marrying a
foreigner, Oxford don Michael Aris, a Briton. They have two
children.

But Suu Kyi was very much her father's daughter. Born June 19,
1945, she was barely 2 years old when Gen. Aung San was gunned
down while planning for the country's soon-to-be-granted
independence. He is easily the most revered political figure
in Myanmar history. Suu Kyi was researching a book on his life
when she chanced upon a revolution-in-the-making. 

She said she wanted to bring her people "freedom from fear."
The simple message she preached matched her own elegance.
"What we want are basic freedoms," she said. "A government
that fails to protect political and democratic rights will
never be able to protect the people's economic rights." 

Her jailers cannot bear to speak her name. In interviews, they
refer to Suu Kyi as "the factor" or "the very specific
problem." Problem, yes -- and one that literally refuses to go
away. SLORC offered her freedom if she left the country. But
the sparrow -- who can be as stubborn in her convictions as
the toughest soldier -- chose to remain in her cage, demanding
the military open political talks. "I want to confront them
across the table," she told a visiting U.S. congressman.

This July will see the sixth anniversary of her arrest. For a
time last year, it looked as if a truce might be in the works:
Suu Kyi met with SLORC leaders for what she said was the first
time since her detention began. Two meetings, both televised,
raised hopes that she might be released. Instead, the only
thing raised was the level of rhetoric against her. 

By early this year, Suu Kyi was back to being, in SLORC's
words, "the foreigner who should go back to Britain." But the
ongoing detention, meant to remove her as a vocal conscience
and government critic, has served only to ensure that she will
attain a stature rivaling her father's. Once again, the
generals have miscalculated.

END.
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