大象传媒

This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.
Skip to main content


 
You are in: Learning English > Moving Words > Quote Feature
Learning English - Moving Words
Moving words logo
Aung San Suu Kyi
"The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged."

Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression. As a pro-democracy campaigner and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy party ( NLD), she stands for equality and democracy in Burma.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. At the presentation, the Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Francis Sejested, called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless".

For the Burmese people, Aung San Suu Kyi represents their best and perhaps sole hope that one day there will be an end to the country's military repression.

She has spent nine of the past 15 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime. Aung San Suu Kyi has often said that detention has made her even more resolute to dedicate the rest of her life to represent the average Burmese citizen.
Factoids on Aung San Suu Kyi

Only two years old when her father General Aung San was assassinated in 1947, just six months before independence.

Imprisoned in 2002 following a clash between her supporters and a government-backed mob.

Compelled to refuse permission to travel to the UK to visit her dying husband in 1999 for fear she would not be allowed back into Burma.

Inspired by non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi

Often held in solitary confinement during imprisonment
Profile

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma's independence hero General Aung San. She was born in Rangoon and lived in Burma and India as a child. She went on to study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University in the UK.

She returned to Burma in 1988 when the country was in the midst of major political upheaval. Amidst the climate of change and pro-democracy protests, Aung San Suu Kyi was propelled into leading the revolt against then-dictator General Ne Win.

The demonstrations were suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988. The military government called national elections in May 1990, and Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won the polls, despite the fact that she herself was under house arrest and disqualified from standing.

However, the military government have refused to give over control, and Aung Sang Suu Kyi has remained under house arrest for most of the time since then.
Ang San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi on Moving Words

"I could not, as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on,"

"The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear".

"Peace as a goal is an ideal which will not be contested by any government or nation, not even the most belligerent."

The song Walk On by Irish rock band U2 was written about and dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi.

True
False