Aung San Suu Kyi
Sing for the Caged Bird
By Susan Chandler Kelley
Copyright 2009;
do not reprint without permission
— Nobel prize winner. Winner of a democratic election. Prisoner for 14 years. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma). Ms. Suu Kyi, 64, has already been in detention for 14 years since the military junta refused to recognize her National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in elections in 1990.
— Then just as her term was almost up, she was tried for a new offense under a 1975 law that has been superseded by later constitutions. On August 11th, 2009, Suu Kyi was sentenced to 18 months house arrest.
— Suu Kyi’s deplorable situation has only recently come to the attention of the rest of the world. However, now some well-known persons – such as Angelina Jolie, Andrew Koenig (son of Walter Koenig) and Walter Koenig himself (who played Chekov on the original Star Trek) – have attempted to bring attention to her cause and free this woman whose only real crime seems to be she was elected by a democratic vote, which made her unpopular with the ruling military regime.
— According to The U.S. Campaign for Burma site, “The recent moves started when a previously-unknown American, named John Yettaw, swam across Inya Lake (which lies behind her lakeside house where she served her detention) and entered her house on May 3, 2009. Yettaw was captured by the military regime, and Aung San Suu Kyi was charged for letting an unregistered visitor into her house, thus breaching the terms of her house detention. Perhaps only in Burma could the owner of a home be charged with breaking a law after an intruder broke into the home!” Should she remain under arrest until after the next Myanmar election in 2009 (which seems nearly certain), the ruling military regime will probably remain in power.
— The U.S. Campaign for Burma works tirelessly to raise money and awareness for Ms. Suu Kyi. Anyone interested in making a donation to this cause, or finding out more about the conditions in Myanmar (Burma), can do so online at their site: http://uscampaignforburma.org/
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