Letter from Burma (No. 52) By Aung San Suu Kyi

Mainichi Daily News, Monday, December 9, 1996

VOICE OF REASON LOOKS BACK ON EVENTFUL YEAR: "Year End"

Letter from Burma (No. 52) By Aung San Suu Kyi

This is the last of the weekly Letter from Burma series that began in November 1995 and I would like to start it on a note of gratitude. The intervening 12 months since my first letter have been most eventful. There were weeks when so much was happening I could not complete my letter by the agreed deadline. But the Mainichi Shimbun did not once reproach me for my failure to deliver on time; instead, Mr. Hiroshi Nagai and other members of the staff demonstrated a fine understanding of the difficulties with which I had to contend. For this understanding, and for the opportunity afforded me to bring the Burmese situation to the attention of the world outside Burma, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the newspaper.

As one deeply involved in the movement for democracy in Burma, it was always my intention to concentrate on the political aspect of life in the country. However, politics is about people and I have sought to bring out the human face of our political struggle. I have written of the effect on ordinary people of such official requirements as the compulsory reporting of overnight visitors to the authorities concerned. I have discussed what inflation means at the common, everyday level of an ordinary breakfast. I have written about friends and colleagues, about the activities of my party, the National League for Democracy, and about the trials, in more than one sense of the word, of political prisoners. I have described traditional festivals and Buddhist ceremonies which are an integral part of life in Burma. I have tried to present politics as multifaceted and indissolubly linked to social and economic issues.

In recent months, I have had to focus increasingly on the challenges the NLD had to face as persecution of its members and supporters reached new heights. The political climate has been very volatile since the end of May when the government took hundreds of NLD members of Parliament, elected in 1990 but never allowed to exercise their function as representatives of the people, into temporary detention. (There were some whose "temporary detention for questioning," as the authorities put it, were converted into long prison sentences.) One does not quite know what is going to happen from one day to the next but one can predict that every time the NLD plans a major party activity the government is bound to overreact.

It is not just the activities of our own party that bring down the heavy attention of the authorities upon us. The activities of others also provide them with an excuse for hampering our work. Toward the end of October, students of the Rangoon Institute of Technology staged demonstrations against the way in which some of their numbers had been handled by the municipal police during an incident in a restaurant. As a result, the road to my house was blocked off for the third time within a month (the first two blockades were related to NLD activities) and U Kyi Maung, one of our deputy chairmen, was taken in for questioning by the military intelligence. A number of young men who were known to be our staunch supporters were also taken into detention for some days and subjected to severe interrogation.

We have now come to expect that the road to my house would be blocked off late on Friday evening or early on Saturday morning to prevent our weekend public rallies from taking place. The blockade is lifted either on Sunday night or Monday morning or Tuesday, as the spirit moves the authorities. On the evening of Sunday, Dec. 1, the road was unblocked and it seemed as though the scene was set for a normal week. But as I observed in one of my letters, "normal" is not a very appropriate world for describing what goes on in Burma today. When Tuesday morning dawned all seemed as usual, but before 7 a.m. the road had been blocked off once again. And I was prevented from leaving my house. What was it all about? There had been another demonstration led by the students of the Rangoon Institute of Technology. We heard that they were later joined by students from the Rangoon Arts and Science University. Immediately the authorities seemed bent on finding some way of linking this development to the NLD.

The students of Rangoon University established a tradition of social awareness and political activism during the colonial days when they were prominent in the independence movement. The years of authoritarian rule blunted the political awareness of our young people but did not kill the instincts that lead them to seek justice and freedom. If there is student discontent, the authorities should seek to redress the ills that lie at the root of this discontent: the protests of the young often reflect the general malaise of their society.

The end of the year is a time for assessing past events and preparing for the future. It is a time for us to decide that we should resolve the problems of our country through political rather than military means.

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"Letter from Burma," which has been carried by the Mainichi Daily News in English and the Mainichi Shimbun in Japanese, will be compiled and published as books in the near future.

The original English-language version is scheduled to be published by Penguin Books next spring. The Japanese translation will be published by the Mainichi Shimbun on Dec. 24.

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As some Burmanet subscribers already know, Daw Suu's "Letter from Burma" series has been translated into Burmese by Kyaw Kyaw Soe, an activist in Tokyo, and published in Voice of Burma, a weekly digest of Burmese news in the Burmese language. Kyaw Kyaw Soe's translations will also be compiled in a book to be published by Voice of Burma Group later this month. Stay tuned for details.

Letter from Burma (No. 51) By Aung San Suu Kyi

Mainichi Daily News, Monday, December 2, 1996

MAINTAINING HUMAN DIGNITY IN THE DARKNESS: "A Normal Life"

Letter from Burma (No. 51) By Aung San Suu Kyi

Recently, when a friend asked me how things were with me since the authorities had taken to barricading off my house periodically, I replied that things were fine, I was simply carrying on with my normal life. At this she burst out laughing. "Yours in not a normal life, in fact it's the most abnormal life!" And I could not help but laugh too.

I suppose the kind of life I lead must seem very strange to some but it is a life to which I have become accustomed and it is really no stranger than a lot of things that go on in Burma today. Sometimes as we walk around the garden while the road outside lies quiet, shut off from the rest of the city, my colleagues and I agree that were we to write about our experiences in the form if a novel it would be criticized as too far-fetched a story, a botched Orwellian tale.

No doubt there are other countries in the world where you would find the equivalent of the huge billboards brazenly entitled "People's Desire," advertising the following sentiments:

* Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views

* Oppose those trying to jeopardize stability of the State and progress of the nation

* Oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State

* Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy.

But I doubt that in other countries you would find just around the corner from such an unwelcoming, xenophobic proclamations, a gigantic, double-faced, particularly unattractive version of a traditional boy doll with puffy white face, staring eyes, a stiff smile and an attache case (that bit is not traditional) welcoming tourists to Visit Myanmar Year. Bizarre is the word that springs to mind. "Fascist Disneyland," one frequent visitor to Burma commented.

There is so much that is beautiful and so much that is wrong in my country. In the evenings when I look out to the lake from my garden, I can see the tattered beauty of the casuarinas, the tropical lushness of the coconut palms, the untidily exotic banana plants and the lushness of the barbed wire fence along the edge of the shore. And across the still waters festooned with dumps of water hyacinth is the mass of a new hotel built with profit rather than elegance in mind. As the sun begins to go down the sky lights up in orange hues. The Burmese refer to this hour as the time of blazing clouds and also the time when the ugly turn beautiful because the golden light casts a flattering glow on most complexions.

How simple it would be if a mere turn of light could make everything that was ugly beautiful. How wonderful it would be if twilight were a time when we could all lay down the cares of the day and look forward to a tranquil night of well earned rest. But in Fascist Disneyland the velvety night is too often night in the worst sense of the word, a time deprived of light in more ways than one. Even in the capital city Rangoon, electricity cuts are not infrequent and we are suddenly plunged into darkness. The inability of the government to supply adequate electric power makes it necessary for many households to contrive arrangements of their own, linking up a wire to a neighboring source that they might enjoy a bit of light at night. The local authorities turn a blind eye to such arrangements, accepting due compensation for their discretion. However, if you happen to be a member of the NLD, trying to bring light into your household can easily result in a two-year prison sentence. The other, and more real, darkness of night in Fascist Disneyland is that so many political arrests are made during the hours when all decent people should be resting and allowing others to rest.

Visitors to my country often speak of the friendliness, the hospitality and the acme of humor of the Burmese. Then they ask how it is possible that a brutal, humorless authoritarian regime could have emerged from such a people. A comprehensive answer to that question would involve a whole thesis but a short answer might be, as one writer has put it, that Burma is indeed one of those lands of charm and cruelty. I have found more warmth, more wholehearted love and more caring concern among my people, as we hope together, suffer together and struggle together, than anywhere else in the world. But those who exude hate and vindictiveness and rave about annihilating and crushing us are also Burmese, our own people.

How many can be said to be leading normal lives in a country where there are such deep divisions of heart and mind, where there is neither freedom nor security? When we ask for democracy, all we are asking is that our people should be allowed to live in tranquility under the rule of law, protected by institutions which will guarantee our rights, the rights that will enable us to maintain our human dignity, to heal long festering wounds and to allow love and courage to flourish. Is that such a very unreasonable demand?

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This article is one a yearlong series of letters. The Japanese translation appears in the Mainichi Shimbun the same day, or the previous day in some areas.

Letter from Burma (No. 50) by Aung San Suu Kyi

Mainichi Daily News, Monday, November 25, 1996

SPIRITUAL REPRIEVE FROM AUTHORITARIAN RULE: "Respite"

Letter from Burma (No. 50) by Aung San Suu Kyi

Those who have to face persistent political persecution become highly politicized. Our lives take on a rhythm different from those who, on waking up in the morning do not need to wonder who might have been arrested during the night and what further acts of blatant injustice might be committed against our people later during the day. Our antennae become highly sensitive to vibrations barely noticed by those whose everyday existence is removed from political struggle. But still, our lives are not all politics, we have our personal concerns, our intellectual and cultural interests and our spiritual aspirations. The spiritual dimension becomes particularly important in a struggle in which deeply held convictions and strength of mind are the chief weapons against armed repression.

The majority of the people of Burma are Buddhists and it is traditional for us to gather together on religious occasions to renew our spiritual strength and our ties of friendship. The National League for Democracy, like many other organizations in the country, tries to observe major religious festivals. But it is not always easy. The authorities accuse us of using religion for political purposes, perhaps because this is what they themselves are doing, or perhaps because they cannot recognize the multidimensional nature of man as a social being. Our right to freedom of worship has become threatened by the desire of the authorities to curtail the activities of our party. This was made particularly obvious in a supplication addressed by the Minister for Religious Affairs to the abbot members of the State /sangha/ (community of Buddhist monks) organization on Sept. 29, 1996.

This supplication accused the NLD of infiltrating its party members into various levels of the sangha with a view to creating misunderstandings between the government and the sangha. It also accused the NLD of instructing its members to enter the religious order to promote the cause of their party and to commit subversive acts. (Somewhat baffling statement, that one. It is difficult to see how committing acts of subversion could promote the cause of the NLD.) Therefore sangha organizations had been "instructed to contact and cooperate with the relevant state/division, township and ward authorities and take protective measures against dangers to religion." In other words action should be taken to prevent members of the NLD from entering the ranks of the sangha.

It is customary for Burmese Buddhist boys to spend some time as novices in a monastery that they might learn the basic tenets of Buddhism and bring merit to their parents who are responsible for arranging their ordination. In addition, many Burmese men when they have passed the age of 20 enter the religious order again for varying periods of time as fully ordained monks. The supplication of the Minister of Religious Affairs to the state sangha organization seemed to be aimed at curtailing the right of members of the NLD to pursue the traditional religious practice. If the authorities truly believe in the accusations leveled against our party in the supplication, they must indeed be out of touch with reality.

But amidst the morass of political repression, intimidation, officially organized acts of anarchy and interference in our right of worship, we gained a brief respite from worldly concerns in the celebration of /kathina/. This ceremony takes place after the end of the rainy season retreat and lasts for one month, from the first day of the waning moon of /Thadingyut/ (this day fell on Oct. 28 this year) until the full moon day of /Tazaungdine/ (Nov. 25). Participation in the kathina ceremony, of which the major feature is the offering of new robes, relieves monks of the disciplinary rules to some extent and therefore those donors who arrange the ceremony gain merit.

The NLD made an offering of kathina robes at the Panditarama Monastery this year. It was good to gather to perform a common act of merit. It was good to listen to the discourse of Sayadaw U Pandita, to ponder over his words of wisdom and to reflect on the meaning of the ceremony. We Burmese believe that those who perform good deeds together will meet again through the cycle of existence, bonded by shared merit. It was good to think that if I am to continue to tread the cycle of existence I shall be doing so in the company of those who have proved to be the truest of friends and companions. Many of us attending the ceremony came together eight years ago to commit ourselves to the cause of democracy and human rights and we have remained together in the face of intense adversity. There were also many missing faces, the ones who had died, the ones who were in prison. It was sad to think of them. But still, it was good to be able to take time off from the political routine, to enjoy a small, precious spiritual respite.

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(This article is one of a yearlong series of letters. The Japanese translation appears in the Mainichi Shimbun the same day, or the previous day in some areas.)

Letter from Burma (No. 49) by Aung San Suu Kyi

Mainichi Daily News, Monday, November 18, 1996

SUU KYI'S ATTACKERS GO FREE UNDER BURMA REGIME: "Operation Anarchy"

Letter from Burma (No. 49) by Aung San Suu Kyi

For some time I have been thinking that I should perhaps, for a change, write a letter about Burmese autumn festivals and flowers, turning my mind from political to cultural and aesthetic interests. But it would not feel right to be quoting verses about scented lotuses under pale strands of moonlight when the political scene is so very unpoetic. So I have to set aside thoughts of the beauty of the dying year and once again focus attention on the current situation in the country.

When I wrote some time ago that life was not dull for dissidents in Burma I did not realize just what an understatement I was making. Something always seems to be cropping up to keep the adrenaline flowing strongly in the NLD (National League for Democracy) system. When we completed our series of meetings at the end of last month, we thought we were in for a period of humdrum administrative work aimed at implementing the resolutions of the meetings. A bit of routine dullness, we thought .... Such a thought was, of course, tempting fate.

Saturday, Nov. 9. The date should have told us something. There are those who take numerology very seriously and the importance that the authorities in Burma put on the number 9 has become something of a joke, albeit a bad one. The previous weekend, our supporters who had, very peacefully, come as close to my blocked off road as possible to try to hear me speak had been subjected to harassment by thugs organized by the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and by members of the security forces. U Kyi Maung, U Tin U and I therefore decided that on Saturday the ninth we would leave my barricaded road to meet those who had gathered some distance away to demonstrate their support for our cause.

It had been arranged that I would meet U Tin U and U Kyi Maung at the latter's house. I was in a closed car with dark windows to keep out strong sunlight and prying eyes. A blue car nearby, which held my military intelligence (MI) security personnel, led the way and we were followed by a blue open-back van carrying some NLD members and young men from our house and by a black police car. We stayed for about a quarter-of-an-hour at U Kyi Maung's house, then set off for the place where we knew our supporters would be gathered. This time, the blue open-back van was at the head of our motorcade, my car came next, then U Tin U's car which carried both him and U Kyi Maung, then followed the blue MI car and the police car.

U Kyi Maung's house is in a lane off the main road. When we had entered the lane 15 minutes previously, there had been just a few uniformed members of the security forces and a few people in civilian clothes lounging around the place. But as our cars swung out on the road, a crowd of people converged on us from both sides. The blue van slipped through unscathed but the mob started attacking our car with stones, iron bars and other lethal instruments under the instructions of a man who had looked in through the front windshield to check who was inside. In an instant the back windshield had shattered but fortunately the sunscreen film held the pieces together and prevented splinters from scattering over us. There were also two big gashes, probably the result of a flailing iron bar. We continued driving and the whole episode was behind us within a matter of seconds. Later we discovered that U Tin U's car had lost all the glass in both rear windows and the rear windshield. The MI escort car also had all its glass shattered and the back windshield of the police car was in a state comparable to the one in my car.

The most striking feature of the whole episode was that it had taken place within an area which had been cordoned off by members of the security forces, who stood by doing nothing to prevent the attacks. Neither did they make any attempt to arrest the perpetrators of the violence. On the contrary, after our cars had driven away, the mob settled down across the road and remained there for several hours under the - one imagines - benevolent eyes of the security personnel.

Where had this mob appeared from? They were members of the USDA, who had been brought in from the suburbs and satellite townships of Rangoon early in the morning. They were positioned in large groups within the area around my house, which was closed off from the general public to prevent our weekend rallies from taking place.

The attitude of the authorities with regard to the incident is telling. Although there has been an announcement to the effect that an inquiry would be made into the matter, we are not aware that there have been any moves to take action against the thugs who must be well known to the members of the security forces who had watched them commit their acts of vandalism with perfect equanimity. This is in glaring contrast to the zeal with which supporters of the NLD are arrested and condemned to substantial prison sentences for trivial matters. What price law and order in a country where injustice and anarchy are condoned by those who hold official responsibility for protecting the citizens from acts of violence?

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(This article is one of a yearlong series of letters. The Japanese translation appears in the Mainichi Shimbun the some day, or the previous day in some areas.)

Letter from Burma (No. 48) by Aung San Suu Kyi

Mainichi Daily News, Sunday, November 10, 1996

COURAGE OF ORDINARY PEOPLE GOES UNMATCHED: "Tribute"

Letter from Burma (No. 48) by Aung San Suu Kyi

There is nothing to compare with the courage of ordinary people whose names are unknown and whose sacrifices pass unnoticed. The courage that dares without recognition, without the protection of media attention, is a courage that humbles and inspires and reaffirms our faith in humanity. Such courage I have seen week after week since my release from house arrest 15 months ago.

Our brave supporters who come to our weekend rallies are a shining symbol of true commitment and strength. There are those who have not missed a single rally and who have become part of the family of our hearts. There is our lovely /Ahmay/ ("Mother"), who has her hair up in an old-fashioned top knot just as my own mother did during the later years of her life. Ahmay usually wears an insouciant smile on her face and a small flower in her hair. She is accompanied by /Ahba/ ("Father"), gentle of mien and quiet of manners, and by their bright-faced young grandson. Ahmay is the center of a group of democracy faithfuls who have looked the cameras of the military intelligence squarely in the lens and again and again braved the threats of the authorities to demonstrate their unwavering support for the cause of democracy in Burma.

These unshakable stalwarts arrive early in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays and stake out their places in front of my house. They sit against the fence on sheets of newspaper or plastic, seeking respite from the glaring sun under the speckled shade of a tree. During the height of the monsoons, they construct a plastic awning under which they sit out the heaviest deluges with unimpaired spirits and determination. When U Kyi Maung and U Tin U and I come out to speak at 4 o'clock, the are stationed right in front of the gate with beaming smiles of welcome and affection. They are the representative heart of the thousands who come to our rallies because they believe in the importance of the basic democratic freedoms of association, assembly and expression. They listen intently to what we have to say and respond with intelligence and humor. Time and time again, foreign visitors and correspondents have commented on the extraordinary courtesy and good will that is evident among our audience.

Our rallies are political rallies so the main thrust of our speeches is about politics. We respond to letters from the people about the current economic, social and political situation; we discuss the latest international developments; we talk about the struggles for justice and freedom and human rights that have taken place in different parts of the world; we criticize policies and programs which are detrimental to harmony and progress in the nation; we touch on historical matters.

One could say that each one of the three of us has a "specialty" of our own. U Tin U, as a one-time Chief of Defense Services and Minister of Defense, as one who has spent two years as a monk and as one who has a degree in law, talks most often about matters relating to the armed services, to religion and to the law. He is able to illustrate political truths with stories from the teachings of the Buddha and to analyze actions taken by the authorities against the NLD from the legal point of view. He has an arresting "voice of command" which at times makes the microphones almost redundant. There is a transparent honesty and sincerity about his words that endear him to the audience.

U Kyi Maung concentrates on economics, history and education and has a delightful sense of humor. Across the road from my house is a compound from which the security services survey my house. During our rallies a video camera team stations itself on the fence and records everything. Around this team there is usually a small group of members of the military intelligence and other security personnel: they listen carefully to our speeches and sometimes they laugh so heartily at U Kyi Maung's jokes (some of which are directed against them) that I can see their teeth flashing in their faces. His occasional stories about a "grandson" with a very MI-like personality are great favorites.

I am the one to respond to letters from the audience and discuss political struggles that have taken place in Burma in the past and also in other parts of the world. I also talk often about the necessity to cultivate the habit of questioning arbitrary orders and to stand firm and united in the face of adversity. One of my most frequent messages is the reminder that neither I alone, or the National League for Democracy by itself, can achieve democracy for Burma. The people have to be involved in the process; democracy involves as many responsibilities as rights.

The strength and will to maintain two rallies a week for more than a year came from our staunch audience. At those times when the authorities were at their most threatening the crowds become larger as a demonstration of solidarity. Even when the authorities blocked off access to my house to prevent the rallies from taking place, people still came as near as they could to let us and the rest of the world know that they were determined to continue the struggle for the right of free assembly.

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This article is one of a yearlong series of letters. The Japanese translation appears in the Mainichi Shimbun the same day, or the previous day in some areas.

Letter from Burma (No. 47) by Aung San Suu Kyi

Mainichi Daily News, Monday, November 4, 1996

JUNTA PERSISTS IN TRYING TO BLOCKADE NLD: "Continuum"

Letter from Burma (No. 47) by Aung San Suu Kyi

This is getting absurd. The road to my house keeps getting blocked and unblocked and then blocked again with the agitated rhythm of a demented yo-yo. Let us recapitulate the events of the last month. The first time the barricades went up was at midnight on Oct. 7, the barricades were removed. Then at midnight on the 11th, the road was blocked off again.

This second blockade lasted until 4:30 p.m. on the 21st. Later at night, around 9:30 p.m., the road was blocked off again. "Possibly there is some method in their madness" was all I could think as I went to sleep. The next morning I discovered that the road had been unblocked at 3 o'clock in the early morning. That day, the 22nd, was a normal working day: well, more or less normal by NLD standards, with people coming over the exchange notes on how they had been chased and beaten by security personnel, how they had been taken into detention and how they had been released. At midnight that very day the road was blocked off yet again.

There are slight variations from one blockade to the other. The first time I was free to come and go, and key members of the NLD executive committee were allowed to come to my house. The second time, I was still free to come and go but others were not allowed in except on the 19th, when I made my usual monthly offering to monks in remembrance of my father. U Aung Shwe, our NLD chairman, and our two deputy chairmen, U Kyi Maung and U Tin U, and their wives were able to join in, for the ceremony.

The second blockade was a busy time for us as a number of party meetings had to be conducted at various venues. It was on the day we finished our fourth meeting that the road was opened again at the unexpected time of 4:30 p.m. (I have written about the fact that such events as the arrest of NLD members and the closing and opening of roads tend to take place in the dead of night.)

The third blockade which started at midnight on the 22nd found us quite blase. The next morning, a Wednesday, I got ready to go out to see where we should hold the meeting that had been scheduled to take place at my house. But just as I was about to leave, the military intelligence officer in charge of security in my house came to convey a "request" to the effect that I should not go out that day. A civil request deserves a civil response, so I said that would be all right provided those who had to attend the meeting were allowed to come to my house. This was arranged speedily enough but when U Aung Shwe and U Tin U arrived I discovered that U Kyi Maung was not with them. He had been taken away early that morning before dawn. I also discovered that the MI officer had asked them to request me not to leave the house for few days.

We were given to understand that U Kyi Maung had been taken away to be questioned in connection with the latest student unrest that had erupted in the Rangoon Institute of Technology a couple of days previously. Two students had come to my house on Tuesday and explained to U Kyi Maung what had happened. The authorities were quick to jump to the conclusion that there must be some link between the NLD and the student troubles. This is quite normal. The authorities tend to lay anything that goes away in the country at the door of the NLD. We are often amazed at the extent of the influence which the authorities imagine we have upon the course of events within Burma. Their obsession with our organization sometimes reminds us of the words of a song: "Asleep, my thoughts are of you; awake, my thoughts are of you. ...."

"Business as usual," we chanted and carried on with our work in the surreal atmosphere of a house arrest that was not a house arrest. We listened to BBC and VOA broadcasts to find out what was going on in the big wide world outside the fence of 54 University Avenue and heard to our surprise that the authorities had claimed I was free to come and go as I pleased. This claim was particularly ludicrous in view of the line of uniformed guards standing at attention in front of the gates of my house. We told our MI officer about this official statement and it was conceded on Friday afternoon that I was in fact free to come and go as I pleased but, of course, I would be "escorted," which was really nothing new. By that time, I had already missed a couple of appointments.

Saturday was for me the beginning of our annual light festival. Our young people made simple, candle-lit lanterns from bamboo and cellophane in yellow, green, red and blue and that evening and the nest, we hung them along the fence. We also let off fire balloons and set off sparklers. Our pyrotechnic activities were of an extremely modest order but there was a certain charm in keeping a traditional festival alive in the midst of restraint.

On Monday afternoon, U Kyi Maung was released and the road to my house was unblocked. For the time being.

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This article is one of a yearlong series of letters. The Japanese translation appears in the Mainichi Shimbun the same day, or the previous day in some areas.

Regrets

Mainichi Daily News, Monday, October 28, 1996

Letter from Burma By Aung San Suu Kyi

We regret to inform our readers that because of Suu Kyi's house arrest by Burma's ruling junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the democratic movement leader was unable to send her award-winning column, "Letter from Burma" this week.

-- Editor