Albert Campbell District Blog

On June 19, let us take a moment to acknowledge
the birthday of Burmese politician, democracy advocate, human rights activist,
and 1991
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi
(Born: June 19, 1945). Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy
(NLD) to victory in the May 27, 1990 general election with 59% of the popular
vote and an overwhelming majority of the parliamentary seats. However, the
military junta of Burma (also known as Myanmar) had already placed her under
house arrest on July 20, 1989 and did not permit the NLD’s electoral victory to
go through, making Aung San Suu Kyi one of the world’s more prominent political
prisoners until she was ultimately released on November 13, 2010, having been
under house arrest for roughly 15 years of a 21-year period. She was
subsequently elected to the lower house of Myanmar’s parliament on April 1,
2012 with the NLD winning 43 of 45 vacant parliamentary seats. Suu Kyi became
Leader of the Opposition on May 2, 2012. It is likely that she will contest
Myanmar’s presidency in the 2015 elections. Consider the following titles for
loan from Toronto Public Library collections:

Aung
San Suu Kyi: a biography [1st ed.] / Jesper Bengtsson, 2012. Book. Adult
Non-Fiction.

Swedish journalist Bengtsson
was only able to manage one interview with his subject who does not generally
dwell on things of a personal nature. Reviews are mixed as to whether the
author has presented Aung San
Suu Kyi as a saint (restricting criticism to the NLD for not being more
forceful in standing up for the 1990 election results in Burma) or not
(including criticism from some who describe her as arrogant, stubborn, and
obsessive about her father Aung
San, recognized as the driving force of Burmese independence from Great
Britain.). Readers can decide for themselves.

The
lady and the peacock: the life of Aung San Suu Kyi / Peter Popham,
2011. Book. Adult Non-Fiction.

Aung San Suu Kyi has shown remarkable courage in defying a military junta
that placed her under house arrest and that refused to recognize the win of her
National League for Democracy party in general elections in Burma in 1990. The
1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner endured separation from her family, made all the
more painful by the death of her English-born husband in 1999.

Also available in Chinese language.

(This title also
appeared in the post: Salute
to International Women’s Day! Selected Biographies and Memoirs of Women .)

Letters
from Burma / Aung San Suu Kyi, 2010. Book. Adult Non-Fiction.

Go to the source: Through letters, Aung San Suu Kyi outlined the situation
in Myanmar faced by the Burmese people and her supporters and those of her
political party, the National League for Democracy. Read about economic
pressures on people’s diets and health, Burma’s natural beauty, and important
Burmese traditions and celebrations.

If you would prefer to watch something, what about:

They
call it Myanmar lifting the curtain [DVD] / Robert H. Lieberman
(director/producer) et al., 2012. DVD. Documentary. Adult Non-Fiction.

Filmmaker Robert H. Lieberman originally released this documentary as a
motion picture in 2011, using clandestine film footage taken over a three year
period. This documentary included an interview with Aung San Suu Kyi. Watch
also the bonus footage showing Aung San Suu Kyi accepting her 1991 Nobel Peace
Prize in Oslo, Norway on June 16, 2012.

Alternatively, watch Aung San Suu Kyi receiving her
Nobel Peace Prize on YouTube:

(Aung San Suu Kyi's speech in Norway on June 16, 2012,
accepting the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize.)