Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Born	19 June 1945 (1945-06-19) Yangon, Myanmar
Residence	Yangon
Occupation	Prime Minister-elect
Known for	Leader of the National League for Democracy, Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Spouse	Michael Aris (m. 1972-1999, his death)

Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese: အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည် or ); born 19 June 1945, Yangon, Burma) was elected in 1990 as the Prime Minister of Burma. The Burmese military, who have governed Burma since 1962, did not let her political party, the National League for Democracy join the government. Suu Kyi was arrested and forced her to stay in her house and not have any visitors.

Since then she has used non-violence methods to bring democracy to her country. She is the leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma and a famous prisoner. Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize in 1990, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992, she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru peace prize by India for her culture of personality.

After elections in Burma in 2010, she was released from house arrest in November 2010. Suu Kyi was not allowed to take part in the 2010 election as the government banned anyone who had been arrested.

She is sometimes called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; Daw is not part of her name, but a title for older women. This name shows respect for her.

Personal life

Aung San Suu Kyi was the third child in her family. Her name "Aung San" comes from her father, who is also named Aung San; "Kyi" comes from her mother; and "Suu" comes from her grandmother.

Her father helped to make Burma independent from the United Kingdom in 1947. He was killed in the same year. She grew up with her mother, Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and Aung San Oo in Yangon. Her favourite brother, Aung San Lin, drowned in a pool accident when Suu Kyi was eight. Her other brother lives in San Diego, California and is an American citizen.

Suu Kyi went to Catholic schools for much of her childhood in Burma. She learned English in school.

Khin Kyi became famous as a politician. She became the Burmese ambassador to India in 1960. Aung San Suu Kyi went to college in India at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women in New Delhi. She continued her education at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and learned about philosophy, politics, and economics. She also went to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in the 1980s.

She moved to New York and worked at the United Nations. In 1972, Aung San Suu Kyi married Michael Aris (1946-1999), a professor of Tibetan culture who lived in Bhutan. She had met Aris when they were both students at Oxford. In 1973, she gave birth to her first son, Alexander, in London; and in 1977 she had her second son, Kim.

Political beginnings

Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to take care of her sick mother. That year, the long-time leader of the socialist ruling party, General Ne Win, stopped being a politician. Many Burmese people wanted a democracy after the military ruled the country for several years.

She admired Mohandas Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence. She was also inspired by Buddhism.. Aung San Suu Kyi tried to work for democracy and helped make the National League for Democracy on 27 September 1988.

She was offered freedom if she left the country, but she refused.

House arrest and release

She was arrested in 1989 and placed in prison in 1990. This was after an election in which her party, then National League for Democracy, won, but was not allowed to be in charge of the country. Between 1990 and 2010, she was always in prison or at her home, which is called house arrest. Burma released her in November 2010. This made many countries and groups around the world very happy. She was then arrested for violating her house arrest.

Books

Authored

• Letters from Burma (1998) with Fergal Keane ISBN 978-0140264036
• The Voice of Hope (1998) with Alan Clements, ISBN 978-1888363838
• Freedom from Fear and Other Writings (1995) with Václav Havel, Desmond M. Tutu, and Michael Aris, ISBN 978-0140253177
• Der Weg zur Freiheit (1999) with U Kyi Maung, U Tin Oo, ISBN 978-3404614356
• Letter to Daniel: Despatches from the Heart (1996) by Fergal Keane, foreword by Aung San Suu Kyi, edited by Tony Grant ISBN 978-0140262896
• Burma's Revolution of the Spirit: The Struggle for Democratic Freedom and Dignity (1994) with Alan Clements, Leslie Kean, The Dalai Lama, Sein Win ISBN 978-0893815806
• Aung San of Burma: A Biographical Portrait by His Daughter (1991) ISBN 978-1870838801, 2nd edition 1995
• Aung San (Leaders of Asia Series) (1990) ISBN 978-9990288834
• Burma and India: Some aspects of intellectual life under colonialism (1990) ISBN 978-8170231349
• Bhutan (Let's Visit Series) (1986) ISBN 978-0222010995
• Nepal (Let's Visit Series) (1985) ISBN 978-0222009814
• Burma (Let's Visit Series) (1985) ISBN 978-0222009791

Edited

• Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson. Edited by Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi. (1979). Vikas Publishing house, New Delhi.

Mentioned in

• Aung San Suu Kyi (Modern Peacemakers) (2007) by Judy L. Hasday, ISBN 978-0791094358
• The Lady: Aung San Suu Kyi: Nobel Laureate and Burma's Prisoner (2002) by Barbara Victor, ISBN 978-0571211777, or 1998 hardcover: ISBN 978-0571199440
• Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi (2007) by Justin Wintle, ISBN 978-0091796815
• Tyrants: The World's 20 Worst Living Dictators (2006) by David Wallechinsky, ISBN 978-0060590048
• Aung San Suu Kyi (Trailblazers of the Modern World) (2004) by William Thomas, ISBN 978-0836852639
• No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs (2002) by Naomi Klein ISBN 978-0312421434
• Mental culture in Burmese crisis politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa Monograph Series) (1999) by Gustaaf Houtman, ISBN 978-4872977486
• Aung San Suu Kyi: Standing Up for Democracy in Burma (Women Changing the World) (1998) by Bettina Ling ISBN 978-1558611979
• Aung San Suu Kyi: Fearless Voice of Burma (Newsmakers Biographies Series) (1997) by Whitney Stewart, ISBN 978-0822549314
• Prisoner for Peace: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Democracy (Champions of Freedom Series) (1994) by John Parenteau, ISBN 978-1883846053
• Des femmes prix Nobel de Marie Curie à Aung San Suu Kyi, 1903-1991 (1992) by Charlotte Kerner, Nicole Casanova, Gidske Anderson, ISBN 978-2721004277
• Aung San Suu Kyi, towards a new freedom (1998) by Chin Geok Ang ISBN 978-9814024303
• Aung San Suu Kyi's struggle: Its principles and strategy (1997) by Mikio Oishi ISBN 978-9839861068
• Finding George Orwell in Burma (2004) by Emma Larkin ISBN 1594-20052-1

Awards

• Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize (1990)
• Sakharov Prize (1991)
• Nobel Peace Prize (1991)
• Prize For Freedom of the Liberal International (1995)
• Freedom of City of Dublin, Republic of Ireland (1999)
• Presidential Medal of Freedom (2000)
• Jawaharlal Nehru Award (1993)
• Olof Palme Prize
• Companion of the Order of Australia (Australia's Highest Civil Honour)
• UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance & Non-Violence (2002)
• Congressional Gold Medal (2008)
• Honorary Canadian citizenship, (2007)
• Honorary President of the LSESU
• Doctorate of Letters honoris causa from Colgate University

Other websites

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Aung San Suu Kyi

• Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Website
• US Campaign for Burma Website
• The Burma Campaign UK Website
• The Freedom Campaign raising awareness through fashion, film, and music
• Free Suu Kyi.org

Nobel Prize

• The Nobel Peace Prize 1991
• Nobel Prize press release
• The Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of Aung San Suu Kyi's son Alexander Aris