Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her steadfast efforts to move Myanmar toward democracy, said that Hawaii’s tradition of multiethnic cooperation and tolerance holds lessons for her homeland.
"In some respects, you could say that my country of Burma is not unlike Hawaii," Suu Kyi said Saturday evening in a keynote speech to the Rotary Global Peace Forum at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. "We benefit from a rich diversity of ethnic groups. Our traditional culture is one of hospitality and warmth.
"We have experienced a period of extreme suffering and are in need of healing. We can look to Hawaii’s progress as a beacon of hope to ourselves. Burma is a country of many ethnic nationalities and faith in its future can be found only in a spirit of union."
PROFILE
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Member of Parliament of Myanmar
>> Age: 67
>> Family: Her father, Gen. Aung San, negotiated Burma’s independence from Britain and was assassinated in 1947. Her mother, Ma Khin Kyi, was a diplomat. Husband Michael Aris was an Oxford professor. Sons: Alexander and Kim.
>> Education: Oxford University, B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics, 1967
>> 1988: Suu Kyi returns to Burma to care for her ailing mother. She calls for multiparty elections and helps found the National League for Democracy.
>> 1990: Her party wins 80 percent of legislative seats, but the military junta annuls the election.
>> 1989-2010: Suu Kyi spends a total of 15 years under house arrest. During brief stints of freedom, she stays in Burma, now called Myanmar, and advocates for political reform rather than join her husband and children in Britain, for fear she will not be allowed back.
>> 2010: Released from house arrest for the last time.
>> 2012: Wins a seat in Parliament.
>> Awards: Nobel Peace Prize (1991), U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (2000), Congressional Gold Medal (2008) and more than 100 other honors
>> Books: “Letters from Burma,” “The Voice of Hope” and “Freedom from Fear: And Other Writings”
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Suu Kyi came to Hawaii to receive the Hawaii Peace Award from Rotary International at the forum, which brought together more than 800 delegates from 30 countries to learn strategies to promote peace in their daily lives. The forum is one of three such gatherings being held by the humanitarian organization in cities that felt the harsh impact of World War II and where "healing is most visible," starting with Berlin last November and wrapping up in Hiroshima in May.
Earlier in the day, the delicate woman known for her steely determination told Hawaii students that it takes courage as well as compassion to achieve peace.
"In my own country we have had ethnic conflict since we became independent," she said. "There was never a time when the country was ever totally at peace … We are still working toward that goal."
She said she hopes negotiations would end the recent conflict in northern Myanmar, where tens of thousands of people have been displaced in fighting between military forces and ethnic Kachin rebels.
"Courage is not just physical courage, not just something that you display only on the battlefield," she told high school students gathered at the Neal Blaisdell Center for a Pillars of Peace forum. "Sometimes courage means the refusal to go up on the battlefield. The courage to say this is enough, we are going to put a stop to this."
Suu Kyi, 67, is in Hawaii at the invitation of Pillars of Peace Hawai‘i, a program of the Hawai’i Community Foundation; Rotary International; the East-West Center; and the Myanmar Association of Hawaii.
Because of her political activism, Suu Kyi spent a total of 15 years under house arrest in Myanmar, also known as Burma, starting in 1989, with brief periods of freedom.
She was released in 2010. After decades under repressive military rule, her country has begun to take steps toward democracy under reformist President Thein Sein, a former general.
Last year, Suu Kyi and other members of the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, were elected to Parliament in the first contested elections since 1990. They took their seats in Parliament alongside members of the military who had ordered them held as political prisoners.
"I believe that we have made some headway," Suu Kyi said. "We have not yet achieved democracy. But I think the idea of sorting out our differences through dialogue is catching on."
Suu Kyi learned about sacrifice and courage from her earliest days. She was just 2 years old when her father, Gen. Aung San, was assassinated in 1947 after negotiating the country’s independence from Britain. Her mother, Ma Khin Kyi, was a diplomat, and Suu Kyi grew up in Myanmar and India.
"I was a bit of a namby-pamby as a child," she confessed at the student forum, her hair pulled back in a ring of pink blossoms. "I was always inclined toward tears, frightened of the dark. My mother didn’t like it … So she made sure that I toughened up."
Suu Kyi was educated at Oxford University and had settled in Britain to raise her family, but returned to Burma in 1988 to care for her ailing mother. She began to speak out against the military regime and push for democratic reform after thousands of protesters were killed in a crackdown.
She was placed under house arrest, a world away from her husband, Michael Aris, an Oxford professor, and their two sons, who remained in Britain. She had not seen her husband in four years when he died in 1999.
Despite her confinement at the hands of the military regime, Suu Kyi said that in addition to being inspired by people like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, "I have also been inspired by what I would call good soldiers … I am very partial to civilized warriors, with an emphasis on the civilized."
Reaction to her remarks was favorable.
"I was really inspired by her," said Kawai Punahele, a senior at Castle High School, who attended the Pillars of Peace forum. "It made me a lot more appreciative of our country and the fact that we have a democracy. We really do take it for granted."
Along with the Nobel awarded in 1991 for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights, Suu Kyi has received the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament, and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. The honors were bestowed in absentia while she was under house arrest.
In June, she was finally able to visit Oslo to give her long-delayed acceptance speech for the Nobel, and also traveled to Washington, D.C., in September to receive the congressional award and visit President Barack Obama.
"Compromise requires courage because compromise means letting go of your vanity," she said. "A lot of people do not compromise because they think it is a sign of weakness. Compromise is a sign of strength … Compassion allows you to recognize that other people’s needs are as valid as your own."
Kelvin Taketa, president of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, said he was impressed by Suu Kyi’s ability to forgive her captors and her commitment to pushing her country along a democratic pathway.
"On the one hand, she has great personal resolve," he said. "On the other hand, she is a profoundly pragmatic politician. For someone who has come out of the human rights field and was under house arrest under the military regime, for her to reach out and start to embrace the military leaders is quite remarkable.
"It makes our issues between Republicans and Democrats seem rather petty."
On Friday, Suu Kyi met with Hawaii leaders, including the governor, at the East-West Center.
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On the Net:
>> Aung San Suu Kyi’s keynote speech to the Rotary Global Peace Forum will air at 9 p.m. Tuesday on ‘Olelo Channel VIEWS 54 and simultaneously stream online at www.olelo.org.
