Mother and Wife, and The Price to be Paid
Suu Kyi wrote in her book "Letters from Burma" that: "I was not the only woman detainee in Burma: there have been - and their still remain - a number of other women imprisoned for their political beliefs. Some of these women had young children who suddenly found themselves in the care of fathers worried sick for their wives and totally unused to running a household. Most of the children, except for those who were too young to understand what was going on, suffered from varying degrees of stress."
On many occasions she was asked about her relationship with her family which lives half a world apart and she would say this of her children: "Of course, there were my own children who had to cope without a mother, but they lived in England, so I was not worries for them." (from an interview with Michele Manceaux, Marie Claire - Singapore edition, May 1996)
From 1996 onward, the junta refuses to allow her husband and children to visit Burma and by the beginning of 1999, Michael became terminally ill and realised that his time was running out. He applied for a visa to visit his wife but the request was turned down by the junta.
The junta wanted to pressure Suu Kyi into exile but she refused the offer to let her leave for London to visit her ailing husband. This came amidst criticism by others that Suu Kyi is failing in her duty as a wife and a mother. Michael eventually passed away on March 27, 1999 at Oxford. The couple's last reunion was during Christmas of 1995.
Michael recorded the happy time they shared in the preface of Suu Kyi's book "Freedom from Fear" that: "The days I spent alone with her that last time, completely isolated from the world, are among my happiest memories of our many years of marriage. It was wonderfully peaceful. Suu had established a strict regime of exercise, study and piano which I managed to disrupt. She was memorizing a number of Buddhist sutras. I produced Christmas presents I had brought one by one to spread them out over several days. We had all the time in the world to talk about many things. I did not suspect this would be the last time we would be together for the foreseeable future."
Michael often told his friends that while Suu Kyi's struggle is known to the world he remains the person who love and understand her most, as Michael wrote in that same preface. "Recently I read again the 187 letters she sent to me in Bhutan from New York in the eight months before we married in London on January 1972… She constantly reminded me that one day she would have to return to Burma, that she counted on my support at that time, not as her due, but as a favour."
As for Suu Kyi, she talked about her relationship with Michael that:
"We don't interfere with each other's beliefs and priorities. For example, my husband is an orientalist and a Tibetologist. I have never tried to stop him from pursuing his interest, although sometimes it was quite exhausting following him around the Himalayas. I did what I could to help him and I think he adopts the same attitude." (from the same interview on Marie Claire Magazine).
When asked about the choice she made as a woman dedicated to the public cause instead or her family, Suu Kyi said: "… I think tradition has always dictated that men are more free to do public work. Women are expected to do both but it's not so in my case because I live apart from my family, so in a sense, I don't have a private life." (ibid).
Life Under Detention
Aung San Suu Kyi was first placed under house arrest on July 20, 1989 by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) which eventually confined her without charge for six years.
Her first taste of freedom came in July 1995.
Life under house arrest in her own home saw Suu Kyi refusing to accept all kinds of deals offered by the junta. She has to sell her household belongings and valuable to survive, leaving only a piano and a dining table. She told a journalist how she passes her days in confinement.
"I refused to accept anything from the military… Sometimes I didn't even have enough money to eat. I became so weak from malnourishment that my hair fell out, and I couldn't get out of bed. I was afraid that I had damaged my heart. Every time I moved, my heart went thump-thump-thump, and it was hard to breath. I fell to nearly 90 pounds from my normal 106. I thought to myself that I'd die of heart failure, not starvation at all." (ibid).
The military junta did not prevented her from corresponding with her family through letters but they read all the letters trafficking in and fro. "They also emphasized that they were doing me a great favour by allowing me to write to my children. But I said I would not accept any favours from them and stopped writing. Then, two-and-a-half years later, they asked my husbands and sons to visit me." (ibid).
Lost Freedom and Road to Democracy
Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for second time on September 21, 2000 for 18 months and gained a brief period of freedom of mobility in 2002.
Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest for the third time by the same junta which by then have changed its name to The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) from June 2003 after a clash between Suu Kyi supporters and government's mob on May 30 while Suu Kyi was visiting local people at Depayin City in northern Burma.
June 19, 2005 marked the 60th birth anniversary of Aung San Suu Kyi who remains under house arrest at her home along Inya Lake, University Avenue, an address that has become symbolic since her father Aung San fought for independence and now her daughter for democracy.
Today, no one knows how she leads her life in confinement but over the past 17 years, Suu Kyi sacrificed her personal freedom and happiness for peace and democracy in Burma. This commitment was reiterated in her very own writings in the book "Letters from Burma" that: "Prison walls affect those on the outside, too"
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Compiled by "The Organising Committee for the 60th Birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi",
translated by Pravit Rojanaphruk
Footnote:
1.Brochure from "One Decade of Aung San Suu Kyi and the Nobel Peace Prize" organised by the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, December 8, 2001.
2."Letters from Burma" written by Aung San Suu Kyi
3. Aris, Michael in preface of Aung San Suu Kyi's book, 'Freedom from Fear'
4. www.dassk.org
5.http://nobelprize.org
6. Manceaux, Michele, Marie Claire Magazine, May 1996, Singapore Edition.
7. Klein, Edward, Vanity Fair, October 1995.
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