Aung San Suu Ki

AUNG SAN SUU KI ABOUT Aung San Suu Kyi is a  Burmese  opposition  politician and  chairperson  of the  National League for Democracy  (NLD) in Burma. In the  1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained under  house arrest  before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13  November 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners.HOW SHE BACAME THE PERSON SHE IS Her father,  Aung San, founded the  modern Burmese army  and negotiated Burma's independence from the  British Empire  in 1947; he was  assassinated by his rivals  in the same year. She grew up with her mother,  Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and  Aung San Oo, in Rangoon. Aung San Lin died at age eight, when he drowned in an ornamental lake on the grounds of the house. Her elder brother immigrated to San Diego, California, becoming a  United States citizen.After Aung San Lin's death, the family moved to a house by  Inya Lake  where Suu Kyi met people of very different backgrounds, political views and religions. Suu Kyi's mother,  Khin Kyi, gained prominence as a political figure in the newly formed Burmese government. She was appointed Burmese ambassador to  India  and  Nepal  in 1960, and Aung San Suu Kyi followed her there, she studied in the Convent of Jesus and Mary School, New Delhi and graduated from  Lady Shri Ram College  in New Delhi with a degree in politics in 1964.Suu Kyi continued her education at  St Hugh's College, Oxford, obtaining a B. A. degree in  Philosophy, Politics and Economics  in 1969. She worked at the  United Nations  for three years, primarily on budget matters. She earned a PhD at the  School of Oriental and African Studies,  University of London  in 1985. She was elected as an Honorary Fellow in 1990. For two years she was a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) in  Shimla, India. She also worked for the  government of the Union of Burma.Coincident with Aung San Suu Kyi's return to Burma in 1988, the long-time military leader of Burma and head of the  ruling party, General  Ne Win, stepped down. Mass demonstrations for democracy followed that event on 8 August 1988 ,which were violently suppressed in what came to be known as the  8888 Uprising. On 26 August 1988, she addressed half a million people at a mass rally in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda  in the capital, calling for a democratic government.However in September, a  new military junta  took power. Influenced by both  Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of  non-violence and more specifically by Buddhist concepts, Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics to work for  democratization, helped found the  National League for Democracy  on 27 September 1988, but was p ut under  house arrest  on 20 July 1989. She was offered freedom if she left the country, she refused. One of her most famous speeches was â€Å"Freedom From Fear†, which began: â€Å"It is not power that corrupts, but fear.Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. † She campaigned again and again to instill her countries faith in democracy and impose human right . She chose nonviolent paths to reach this goal that Burma too be a democratic country. HOUSE ARREST Aung San Suu Kyi has been placed under  house arrest  for 15 of the past 21 years, on different occasions, since she began her political career, during which time she was prevented from meeting her party supporters and international visitors.PRIZES Suu Kyi received the  Rafto Prize  and the  Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought  in 1990 and the  Nobel Peace Prize  in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the  Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding  by the government of India and the  International Simon Bolivar Prize  from the government of Venezuela. In 2007, the Government of Canada made her an honorary citizen of that country; at the time, she was one of only four people ever to receive the honor. In 2011, she was awarded the  Wallenberg Medal.