Love and Forgiveness in Governance: Exemplars: Aung San Suu Kyi

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By Ernest Ogbozor

Aung San Suu Kyi is a successful exemplar of a leader that demonstrates love and forgiveness in governance. After spending 15 years in solitary confinement at Yangon, Burma (Myanmar), she was granted freedom in November 2010. The long years of her arrest and subsequent confinement did not change her love for Burma and the people that kept her in confinement. She noted that, "in some ways I don't think they did anything to me. They placed me under house arrest, but that gave me time to read."[1] According to Rachel Shafran, "her father taught her a sense of duty for her country and her mother taught her forgiveness."[2] She is a symbol of peace and reconciliation, and a woman that represents freedom and democracy for Burma.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of General Aung San, Burma's independence hero, and Daw Khin Kyi, a Burmese diplomat. She was born on June 19, 1945 in Burma and at a tender age of two, a political rival assassinated her father. The incident was a tragedy to the Aung San family on one hand and the entire country on the other. In 1960, Suu Kyi went to India to continue her education with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Burma's ambassador to Delhi. Four years later she moved to the United Kingdom to continue her education at the St. Hugh's College, Oxford University, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics.[3]

In 1969, Aung San Suu Kyi began her professional career at the United Nations in New York, served as the Assistant Secretary for the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. In 1973, she moved to Bhutan to work as a Research Officer for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Throughout her years of education, and professional career, Aung San Suu Kyi wrote highly praised scholarly articles. For example, her book "Freedom from Fear" and articles "My Father" and "My Country and People," are reflections of her Burma experience. After living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled in the UK to raise her two children, Alexander and Kim, but Burma was never far from her thoughts.

Aung San Suu Kyi's initial political awakening was in the wake of Burma's 1988 political crisis and students protest. First she wrote a letter to the government asking them to address the problems that the students had exposed. Then, when the government officials failed to respond to her letter, she gave a speech at a public rally. During the speech, she said, "I could not as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on. This national crisis could in fact be called the second struggle for national independence." She also said, "There is a difference between armed forces and those who abuse the power of armed forces." [4] She asked the military to become a force in which the people can place their trust and reliance. More importantly, she emphasized democracy as precondition for Burmese freedom.

Alan Clements, founder of the Burma Project USA, described Aung San Suu Kyi as "...a dynamic woman with an unshakable conviction, inseparable from her principles and sustained by a sense of justice and duty. She abhors hypocrisy, while admitting her own shortcomings. Her compassion is tangible. The one quality that I feel best defines her is sincerity, at the core of which is her conviction in self-improvement. Aung San Suu Kyi is a seeker, one who makes her life a vehicle for an awakening to deeper and deeper truths."[5]

Addressing the military dictatorship, according to Alan Clements, Suu Kyi said "I am going to confront you with the power of kindness over cruelty, dialogue over destruction, and decency over death."[6] Her strong convictions, perseverance and relentless efforts for social justice inspired and garnered the respect of many around the world. She won numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament, United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award from India and the Rafto Human Rights Prize.

Aung San Suu Kyi suffered exile, away from her husband and two sons because of what she believed and fought for, her friends and supporters were jailed, tortured, and killed. However, in spite of long suffering and denial, Suu Kyi said that what Burma needs is "reconciliation, not retribution".[7] She was elected to the Burmese Parliament representing the National League for Democracy, and has expressed her willingness to continue to serve her nation.

 

[1] "Smiling Suu Kyi Lays Out 'Ambitious' Plan for Myanmar - CNN.com," CNN, n.d., http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/14/world/europe/switzerland-myanmar-suu-kyi/index.html.

[2] "Aung San Suu Kyi – Her Story, Your Story! — Womens Center for Leadership WCL", n.d., http://www.wcleadership.com/news/aung-san-suu-kyi-her-story-your-story/.

[3] Alison Koistinen, "Peace Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi," Peace Review 15, no. 3 (2003): 349–355.

[4] Ibid.

[5] "Shambhala Sun - Conversations with Aung San Suu Kyi", n.d., http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2017.

[6] "101104_2237_burma_suukyi.pdf", n.d., http://www.tlupic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/101104_2237_burma_suukyi.pdf.

[7] "'Reconciliation, Not Retribution' Says Aung San Suu Kyi in Her First Press Conference in Europe - YouTube", n.d., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctCg1iGJkjU.