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Subscribe to RSSAung San Suu Kyi donned a cap and gown to receive her Civil Law Doctorate from Oxford University. Author Peter Popham discusses.
She was already an international symbol of the fight against oppression and a unique figurehead for democracy. But, Aung San Suu Kyi -- the woman who took on Myanmar's military rulers armed with little more than the strength of her convictions -- was this week elevated to even higher status.
The end of Suu Kyi’s European tour has officially marked her arrival as a truly global political icon. But behind the smiles and oft-witnessed stoicism that define her public persona is a story of terrible personal loss, a heart-breaking tale of personal sacrifice: Two boys who grew up without their mother and a husband who died of cancer in her absence.
Andy Rain / EPA
Aung San Suu Kyi holds her honorary degree Tuesday at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Britain.
It is part of the narrative that defines Suu Kyi, 67, and made her return to Europe after 24 years away even more poignant and moving.
She is the daughter of national hero Aung San, the man who secured Burma’s independence from British rule in 1947.
He was killed when Suu Kyi was just 2 years old. His death and legacy laid the foundations of her incredible future commitment to her country.
In her early 20s, she studied at Oxford University in England, where she met and fell in love with Michael Aris, the man who would become her husband. It was during this very happy marriage that Suu Kyi got what many have defined as “her calling.”
Suu Kyi: Nobel Prize 'made me real once again'
In March 1988 her two boys, Alexander and Kim, were sleeping upstairs in their home in Oxford while she was reading quietly with Michael when a phone call came that would change their lives and Myanmar's political history forever.
Her mother was sick and needed her.
Suu Kyi packed her bags and flew back to her homeland. On arrival, she found not just a mother who was dying but a country in the midst of great political turmoil. Within months she had buried her mother and taken the lead in the non-violent struggle against a brutal military regime that was slaughtering protesters en masse. By July 1989, she was placed under house arrest.
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the World Economic Forum in Bangkok saying, "we just want to improve the state of Burma" and urged the international community to not be overly optimistic about her country's reform process. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
In the time that followed, Suu Kyi believed she would soon return to Oxford, but the days turned into months, the months into years. In total, she spent 24 years away from her beloved England, either in detention or unable to leave for fear of not being allowed back. She saw her sons only occasionally when the regime allowed them to visit.
Author and Journalist, Peter Popham, who has met Aung San Suu Kyi twice, wrote a biography about her called “The Lady and The Peacock.”
"Neither she nor her husband imagined that it would lead to the destruction of the family," he said. “Michael is on the record as saying he expected the regime to collapse before Christmas."
But many Christmases came and went and the boys turned into men, without their mother’s presence.
Earlier: Large crowds welcome Suu Kyi as she travels Thailand during world tour
A very public reunion took place last November between her and her younger son Kim, by then 33 years old. At the airport in Rangoon she cast a delicate and lonely figure but also a mother like any other desperately awaiting the arrival of her son.
Watching the video footage of it now, it's a very moving moment. Kim turns up and they smile for the cameras; she looks up proudly at her tall, handsome son. It had been 10 years since she had last seen him and she had then never met her grandchildren.
There are many conflicting rumors about her older son, Alexander, who did not attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway, last weekend. Some say he has found it difficult to forgive his mother's absence.
In an ITN interview Tuesday, Suu Kyi had a pragmatic response: “We have never spoken of forgiveness as such,” she said, “but we also have to remember that although my sons may not have had me near them, their position was so much better than that of many young people in Burma.”
For the first time in nearly a quarter century, Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has left her country for a journey overseas, first to Bangkok and later to Europe. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
But what about her? Was she a mother who made a painful sacrifice for her country?
'Stubborn streak'
Popham said that she did not view this as sacrifice but more as a choice with the agreement of her sons and husband.
"Many people wonder why she has been unable to express her feelings for the loss of her family,” he said, “and they think that maybe this is because she is rather a cold person to whom the family doesn’t mean much, but this is a serious misunderstanding.”
Her “stubborn streak” -- a personal trait she referred to when in London this week -- may have had a big role to play, as may have a certain lightness of being. She keeps a poker face, notable during her trip this week, but it is also interjected with moments of mischief.
All her speeches have been peppered with irreverent references and she was often caught grinning broadly; a sense of humor never seems far away.
Bono, of the band U2, a long-time supporter, told me that she combines charisma with a unique determination.
“She is still inside herself,” he said, “And steely; there is a toughness as well as a tenderness.”
Her Buddhist meditation practice is said to have helped her during her longest and darkest moments, as has her own childhood marked with control, resolve and poise. These were coping mechanisms that got her through the last two decades.
Popham said she was always careful not to reveal what she really thought.
“She was an extremely devoted mother and housewife and the separation for years was certainly something that was never envisaged.” He continued, “She’s never spoken about it, spoken about the pain that she undoubtedly endured because to do so would be a way of telling the military regime your strategy is working. I am suffering.”
When asked this week about the family she left behind, she was as direct and confident in her answer as ever.
"I don't feel good about it,” she said, “but on the other hand I think that in the end one decides what one's priorities are, and one lives with one's decisions."
She’s had a quarter of a century to make peace with those decisions. Her return to the U.K. must have been overwhelmingly bittersweet.
But, long accustomed to being a woman who keeps her feelings private, in Dublin she told me simply that her trip had been “absolutely stupendous.”
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to be honest with you she sounds like a deadbeat. If this was a man he would be hated for leaving his children. Kids need there mother more than anything and they want there mom more than anything. I don't see how she is a hero. But maybe i just didn't understand the story. and i'm sorry if i offended anyone with my opinion.
She fought (and is fighting) for democracy in a country known for its military rule. Honestly, I'm no expert on her accomplishments, but I've always thought she looked like a nice person.
wow! you dont understand the story and you still found it important to leave a comment about someone who actually earned a Nobel peace prize.... using Gandhian principles of non-violence, she brought a military regime to their knees...with zero help from the so-called democracy loving countries.
If you are wondering why she left her family in the first place, it wasn't to be an activist, It was to see her dying Mother. After her Mother died she got involved in the politics, not knowing she would be locked away for 25 years. She didn't pack up and leave her family because she didn't want them, I don't understand how you came to this conclusion.
Wow! What an utterly ignorant and shallow statement. She is a towering figure in history, who will be remembered in the same vein as Gandhi.
I totally agree with you. She had long ago left her country. If she cared that much she should've stayed there and not have kids and then abandon them.
Follow everything from the beginning and I guarantee you will see things in a different light. Much like any person fighting against the system to create an equal world for all. The person who detained this woman chose to do so in a cowards way.
She never left Burma long ago or now. The military made her mom & her family stay out of the country since after her father, Aung San was assassinated. She was just 2. It wasn't her decision. She lived outside Burma as a mother and a wife untill her mother was sick and dying.
yes. I agree kids need their mother more than anything. But, all children in Burma has NO peace and secure. No Bright in their future. Burmese children needed her more than their mothers.
SHE IS A HERO, she is not a normal person like you.
Wow, hard to believe people would criticize her for being selfless rather than selfish. Because of her millions have a future that would not otherwise of existed. She changed the world through her own sacrifice, created opportunities, where none existed, for all her nations people. Now they can have the same opportunities she gave her own sons. She chose to abandon no one, to leave no one behind.
we don't know how old they were when she left them
and
she did not plan to leave for long...just to see her dying mother. Then she was locked up
she is a true hero
Myanmar was and still is a very Buddhist society. Her father was a military man but with strong buddhist principles. It was a rare combination or so I thought. Former Burma was built around Buddhism. I believe she is a great woman and please, remember that she went through silent torture being isolated in her home and taken away from her loved ones. Is there anyway to hurt better to a mother? She has no scars in her body I guess but she has psychological scars that must be healed. Her soul has survived thanks to buddhism. I believe all international officials should support her and encourage her because she is not done yet. She will become stronger and stronger in her soul and she will find her fate, her call and strong purpose in life. Myanmar will open to the world sooner or later and will pass through a healing process.
Her story is smeared by the Noble Piece of Sh*t Prize.
A shallow, ignorant statement by someone from the ignorance capital of the world. Texas, the Pakistan of the West.
How is that ignorant? To me it seems he has a valid opinion with which I would be inclined to agree based upon previous Nobel Peace Prize recipients. Just because you do not agree with an individual does not translate to your intellectual superiority; at least not beyond your own misguided perceptions. Also, the only real reason to disparage an entire region of our country would be to propagate your own prejudice, hatred and ignorance in hopes that others might jump on your bandwagon. If you disagree that's fine but nobody likes a tool.
Big Jim is one reason why, someday soon, I hope that Texas will secede from the United States!
See look what you've done Sarge. This supports my theory that hatred and stupidity are communicable.
Old Sarge-3447849
Totally agree with your comment, still think you are being a bit unfair to Pakistan !!!
That's not a woman, it's Mr. Spock! Yeah we know about his personal issues. Being only half human, all the other vulcans teased him. Big deal. Poor Mr. Spock.
Mr. Spock would be proud to call this woman his mate. If you followed this from the beginning this women used intelligent logic to get her point across. Mr. Spock would be proud.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke. Especially when they gave it to Obama about a month into his Presidency and he had done nothing to earn it.
Not only did the war monger hitman Obammy win the Nobel POS prize , the terrorist Yasser Araphat was also a Nobel POS prize winner. The Nobel Peace Prize and those that won it, have been deminished because of the ignate eurotrash Nobel committee that gave away the peace prize as an appeasment.
right
so the whole decades old prize given to numerous people is a useless peace of sh+t because you disagree with the awarding of it to one person
Big Jim probably never heard of the Nobel Prize until it was given to Obama. I agree that Obama was a strange choice, since he had not done anything except get elected to the presidency of the United States, but since I don't get a vote on the committee, it is their business. This lady deserved it more that most in the 111 year history of the prize. She is an amazing figure of courage and sacrifice. Big Jim probably thought that people like Henry Kissinger deserved it, since he is a Republican.
Old Sarge , Henry Kissingger should mail back the Nobel POS prize with a note telling them to stick it up their azz.
What she endured is nothing compared to what American men have had to endure and have endured for the past 60 years; oppression, gender bias, discrimination, failure to receive equal protection under the law, abject hostility by the press, the government, and women in general. Hillary has propped up this female and since then we have been forced to 'celebrate her' for the past 8 weeks. Enough. We get it.
All I can respond is --what are you talking about?
I think the bar must've opened early or else this yayhoo slept on the floor and never went home... Man, I woke up wanting to read a really inspirational story about a truly great individual, and I'm treated to a bunch of trash talking poster children for the sorry state of Education in Texas and elsewhere...
Our Native American friends have an expression for them that loosely translates as $&~# talkers...
Sun Kyi will be remembered in history on par with Ghandhi--as noted--as well as Mandela, Dr. King, Lincoln, and only a few others... Two or three of her stature in China would turn that totalitarian bureaucracy on its ear...
therockofages: what in God's name are you talking about? Really, I'm interested in hearing an explanation.
poor disciminated against male
probably White and Christian as well. Tiresome being in the most powerful majority in every aspect of life is it?
you don't even understand what it is to be not in the dominant and prevailing group. Never felt it before.
Probably you are heterosexual as well.
I'm sorry do you have a problem with white heterosexual Christian males. Stop putting people into categories and deciding who the winners and losers are going to be. I'm all for equality but it seems you are not.
No matter what successes she may have had politically, ultimately she is a total failure. How could she possibly have been a devout wife & mother? When her mother was dying, she rushed to her side, but did not do the same for her husband? Obviously she is a heartless and cruel woman. No matter how you look at it, she is still a selfish and heartless person.
By the time her husband died in 1999, she'd periodically been under house arrest and feared the Burmese government would not let her return if she left. It was that government who denied him a visa to enter the country...
Do your homework (and my apologies for my typo below, referring to Suu Kyi as "Sun Kyi"). By your standards Lincoln was a failure because he should've known better than to go to the theater that night in 1865...
If she were a man who was forced to leave his family for the freedom of his country you would be calling him a hero, but since it's a woman you condem her. Really crazy!
hahaha
"obviously a heartless and cruel woman"
hohoho
what is obvious is how quickly you judge without much information
I feel she abandoned her family and gave totally of herself to her country. It's not a sacrifice I see, it's great sadness to her husband and sons that she chose to live without. She's no hero in my eyes.
The over educated libturds are not much on pro-family. They think a village should raise your kids. Her cause was worthy. Only she can determine if it was worth it.
Big Jim, how can one possibly be 'over educated'? Seriously, education is a good thing, you should get one.
rainlady2, put on your thinking cap. The 'over educated' are those that think they know more than they do. Their brain is filled with propaganda from our leftist education system.
I don't care you don't see her as a hero or not. My country, Burma needs her truly like we all need our mother. She is the mother of Burma. she chose for us than her two sons. They now survived without their mom. Burma can't survive without her. She is the one who can fight for Burma rights. Our human rights!!!
I respect her like my mother. She has been trying to save many children of Burma and their future. Whatever you think, Burmese don't care!
You sound absolutely selfish - at least feel sorry that there are people, her own children who suffered painful years without parents-one dead, the other chose not to be with them. You should be thankful rather than be boastful that she chose the country over her family. One can only have one mother in his lifetime, but a country can have many leaders because there are millions left you can choose from. I admire the lady so much but you guys, should think hard how much she and especially her kids gave up for your cause. Come a time she'll grow old and won't be there perpetually, then you will know that you can survive and should carry on without her. Sometimes, we just enjoy the convenience of putting all responsibilities on one's shoulders.
The ignorance and small-mindedness on display in this thread is staggering. It's quite clear that many of you know nothing about this story, yet you don't hestate to judge and make rude and shallow comments disparaging someone who has made tremendous personal sacrifices in support of her beliefs.
Here's a hint, people: If you don't know what you're talking about, don't say anything. Otherwise, you show yourself to be a fool.
History will judge Aung San Suu Kyi as a giant, a worthy companion to Gandhi, Mandela, or any other hero of freedom and democracy you choose to include. Those who know her story already hold her in that sort of regard.
Reading some of these comments, I'm a bit staggered and saddened by them. My family and I immigrated from Burma about 7 years ago, but we still keep in contact with family back home. Aung San Suu Kyi is almost completely revered by everyone back home and in my eyes, she's a great lady who sacrificed so much for her country. Saying she's selfish is as far from the truth as possible. She never set out to leave her family and become a political icon for Democracy. It was put upon her and she chose to help the Burmese people like her father did. I can't imagine what it was like for her to never have seen her husband before his death and to miss her two sons' childhoods, but if the sacrifice was worth it or not is for her to decide.
No doubt this lady is no ordinary one. In my lifetime, I guess she stands tall being the epitome of courage, wisdom, passion, vision, determination but at the same time she is very much a lady, witty, elegant, stoic. Surely, her place in history is guaranteed. But for me, the most tragic and ironic in her life's journey is while she dedicated her life to trying to make Burma a better place especially for the young as what she herself said for them to have the opportunity to be happy, 2 young sons were left, yet hardly molded, without a mother and ironically snatched away with the chance to have a happy youth which comes only once, wounded for life. For any normal person to know that your mother had chosen you second to her cause and to witness your father slowly dying, longing for his wife by his side is one traumatic experience especially if you know that your mother had a choice. When I read especially that the young one worked as a carpenter, divorced and seeing him on later footages already an adult but somewhat withdrawn, I felt this ardent wish for Burma to have a happy ending to make all these stories of sacrifices be worth it BUT equally so I wish for this family to grab whatever chance there is left to make up for the lost years and heal and afterall have a happy ending. I hope that people won't be selfish enough because one can only have one mother in his lifetime while a country can have many leaders. While to serve a country is noble, being a mother in it's essence is a sacred duty.
I just can't understand why Aung San Suu Kyi, who has made great sacrifices for her country, is being criticized for being a bad mother. Her family life is her own business, not fodder for trivial little minds, and besides it was the military regime that forced her to be separated from her husband and sons. Even if she had breathed a sigh of (private) relief at being kept apart from them (and that doesn't seem to have been the case), she has become one of the very few political figures in this century who deserves our respect and admiration. Without her, Burma would probably just be a satellite of the People's Republic of China.
Gandhi, Churchill and Roosevelt didn't have such great family lives - but who criticized them for being bad Daddies?
Hope that she eats good with sufficient hydration and rest/sleep. And she may take time to learn and to observe during the tour, for she may explore the finanical possibilities for her own nation.