SUBSCRIBE|ADVERTISE | DONATION
Irrawaddy CONTACT US|FAQ
BURMESE VERSION



Suu Kyi’s Eventful 21 Years in the Political Spotlight

By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, June 19, 2009
COMMENTS (5)
RECOMMEND (33)
E-MAIL
PRINT

Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi spent her birthday on Friday as she has done for 14 previous years—in detention. Since her arrival on Burma’s political scene in August 1988, Suu Kyi has known only seven years of freedom. The Irrawaddy looks back over those 21 eventful years…


August 24, 1988

Aung San Suu Kyi appears for the first time on the Burmese political scene, addressing an audience at Rangoon General Hospital while the country is in the grip of martial law.

“It was Daw Suu’s first appearance in public and we thought she wouldn’t be able to speak Burmese fluently because she had spent years in England,” said Moe Thu, a well-known writer and former NLD executive committee member. Suu Kyi had surprised them all by her fluency in the Burmese language, he recalled.


August 26, 1988

Suu Kyi addresses crowds estimated to number 500,000 at mass rallies in front of Rangoon’s Shwedagon Pagoda and announces her decision to join the struggle for democracy.

“This great struggle has arisen from the intense and deep desire of the people for a fully democratic parliamentary system,” she declares. 


September 27, 1988

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is founded by Suu Kyi and several of her closest colleagues, including Win Tin, later to become Burma’s longest-serving political prisoner.

“We [NLD] worked for the country and for the people,” recalled Win Tin.


December 27, 1988

Suu Kyi’s mother Khin Kyi, widow of Burma’s independence hero Aung San, dies. The huge funeral procession turns into a peaceful protest against military rule. Some senior members of the ruling military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, attend the funeral. Suu Kyi calls on senior generals to enter into a dialogue.


April 5, 1989

Suu Kyi confronts army soldiers at gunpoint while campaigning in Danu Byu Township, Irrawaddy Delta. An army major intervenes, orders the soldiers to lower their weapons—and saves Suu Kyi from possibly being gunned down.


July 20, 1989

Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest for the first time, under a martial law order allowing her to be detained without charge or trial for six years. Several students are taken from her Rangoon lakeside home for questioning at the Military Intelligence Interrogation Center.


May 27, 1990

Suu Kyi’s NLD scores an unexpectedly resounding victory in a general election, winning 392 of the 485 seats contested.


December 10, 1991

Suu Kyi is awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Students hail her achievement in demonstrations at Rangoon University on December 10-11. More than 200 are arrested and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.

“We demonstrated peacefully for honoring our leader who was detained, and we called for our leader’s release, but as a result, more than 200 students were arrested unfairly,” said a protester who took part and was given a long prison sentence.


September 20, 1994

The junta leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, and Gen Khin Nyunt hold their first meeting with Suu Kyi, calling for national reconciliation and dialogue.


July 10, 1995

Suu Kyi is released after six years of house arrest.


March 13, 1996

Suu Kyi is forced to cancel plans to attend the trial in Mandalay of comedian Par Par Lay and members of his Moustache Brothers troupe after the train which was to have taken her there develops a mysterious technical fault. The Moustache Brothers got to know Suu Kyi in performances at her Rangoon home.


November 9, 1996

A vehicle carrying Suu Kyi and other senior NLD members is attacked by some 200 government-sponsored thugs armed with knives and clubs on the Kabaraye Pagoda Road.



1  |  2 



COMMENTS (5)
 
Please read our policy before you post comments. Click here
Name:
E-mail:   (Your e-mail will not be published.)
Comment:
You have characters left.
Word Verification: captcha Type the characters you see in the picture.
 

nono Wrote:
22/06/2009
I know we hate the dictatorship. But Than Shwe and Maung Aye will win the election for sure. Then let's learn from Iran. Please! Daw Suu, let's move again. All ethnic groups are with you. If Than Shwe and Maung Aye are brave enough to kill we are not afraid to die. Come on!

George Than Setkyar Heine Wrote:
20/06/2009
Let me add my view to this list of Daw Suu's.
She is sentenced to five years in a specially closed camp guarded by armed contingents near Rangoon, if not in Insein prison.
And the world will send some sad notes and issue some more statements condemning Than Shwe.
Than Shwe will hold his farcical 2010 elections as scheduled under UN watch, but hoodwinked by the monk murderer and emerging victorious also.
The monk murderer will take the helm of Burma this time in civilian attire and his hirelings will hold sway not only in Burma but also in the world.
China will be more powerful and Renminbi will replace the American dollar as world currency.
And the Dragon Dance will become the world dance like football (soccer) the world game, not to mention Chinese dialect assuming world medium of communication in place of English later to come.
No doubt Burma would be deemed a province of China while the Chinese dialect replaces Burmese. Buddhism would be banned like Fulongong and all others flee to alien lands.

Andrew Bowe Wrote:
20/06/2009
A great time line on Aung San Suu Kyi. She is still a beautiful person and very caring about her children and people after all these years.

SY Alam Wrote:
20/06/2009
When I was in high school we had to read "Cho Tago Nay Gonri Mato" in Myanmar Sagapri. When Cho Tago is watching Gonri Mato move, he cries but he forgets his life. His life is worse than Gonri Mato moving. This is the same, we forget our own life but we don't forget her birthday because she is our hope. Now, for me I don't think she can bring peace and democracy in Burma because in Burma they don't have law. Her non-violent way is never ever going to work in Burma. Until and unless she gives up her non-violent policy, we can not achieve our goal of democracy in Burma. This is the time for her to realize what Burmese people need. Daw Suu has the guts to live in jail but she is not brave enough to come out on the street with the people because she still doesn't understand or she doesn't know the real Burmese military tyrants, Than Shwe and Maung Aye. If Than Shwe orders the military, she needs to order the public to come out together for their second independence. Then we all can have democracy and human rights in Burma.

timothy Wrote:
19/06/2009
The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 election—a not unexpected result, unexpected only for the demented and out-of-touch junta. In the early days of Ne Win`s occupation of Burma, people used to say that a dog can easily win the election against Ne Win. Why? Because people hate him in their hearts. Than Shwe knows what happened to Saddam Hussein. Do you know it, Than Shwe?





Thailand Hotels
Bangkok Hotels
China Hotels
India Hotels

More Articles in This Section

bullet Children’s Rights Celebrated in Naypyidaw

bullet US Calls for Dialogue between Suu Kyi and Junta

bullet UN Passes Resolutions on Burma Human Rights

bullet Myint Swe: The Tatmadaw’s Next Top Dog?

bullet Handcuffed Statue Has the Experts Talking

bullet ‘Burma VJ’ Short-listed for Oscar

bullet Assessing the US-Asean Summit

bullet Coco Islands to Open for Tourism

bullet Global Fund Returns to Burma with Large Grant

bullet Mystery of the Handcuffed Statues

 

Home |News |Regional |Business |Opinion |Multimedia |Special Feature |Interview |Magazine |Archives |Research
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.