The battle that Suu Kyi lost

I find it hard to believe that a better biography of Aung San Suu Kyi – the Nobel laureate and Burmese voice of conscience – has yet to be written. It’s rare enough that we have the privilege of sharing a stage – or an age, if you like – with one considered by many of her people to be the single shining beacon of light in Myanmar (or Burma, if you still want to call it that).

But even more telling is that, despite all the international support and pages of press, she remains under house arrest in Yangdon, with only an aide to help her buy groceries and the occasional visit from her doctor to keep her spirit going.

Justin Wintle, in his new biography of the freedom icon, Perfect Hostage – A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi (published by Hutchinson), posits an interesting question – is Suu Kyi, for all her sacrifices and personal courage (and there’s plenty to be had), actually doing her countrymen any good?

Has her non-violent approach to dealing with the military junta played into the hands of the compassionless rulers, when a more aggressive approach may have succeeded in pushing out the old guard?

In this he echoes the very sentiments that kept Mahatma Gandhi out of the 100 most influential people in history list. The author – Michael Hart – had argued, quite convincingly, that Gandhi’s non-violent partisan movement may have actually delayed India’s independence, and paved the way for all the communal headache and border disputes with Pakistan.

And while Gandhi’s “I won’t do what you want, so beat me, please” movement may have carried moral water among the white colonisers, Suu Kyi’s similar rant has had no effect whatsoever with her more brutal oppressors. If anything, the Junta has grown even more bold over the years, and the lack of an international trade blockade has meant they are able to carry out their plans with minimum encumbrances.

All this and more is discussed, or at least given cursory airing, in Perfect Hostage, which uses interviews with friends, colleagues, former teachers, refugees, as well as letters and speeches made by The Lady to fashion a piece of living history.

But to get to this, you’d have to wade through Wintle’s mostly prosaic and tedious retelling of the tumultouos history of Burma, through its blood drenched centuries of violent conquest and the eventual rise of a freedom movement shaped by Suu Kyi’s father, Boygoke (General) Aung San.

Aung San’s assassination paved the way for Myanmar’s nightmare without end, and his daughter, in her own way, has tried through the force of her personality to set things right. And so far, met with failure.

Still, it’s hard not to sympathise with Suu Kyi’s plight – having spent the better part of the last 15 years in Myanmar’s struggle for democracy, not to mention losing touch with her family, it would be a hard blow for the lady to accept defeat and shuffle off the stage she has so carefully crafted for herself.

It is not in her mindset to give up. And perhaps, it would be a sad day for all those who believe in freedom – true freedom to vote your conscience, to work for pay, to be free from harassement and threats – if she were to give up.



Mitra Themis