l to all those who have the opportunity to act against such arbitrary acts to express their solidarity with people who to this day live in a state of “unfreedom.” […]
Seemingly unshakable totalitarian monoliths are in fact sometimes as cohesive as proverbial houses of cards, and fall just as quickly. Continuing democratization of the whole region, together with growing dissent inside the country, must eventually have a positive effect. As Aung San Suu Kyi celebrates her 60th birthday, I wish for her that those changes will happen as soon as possible, and that my silly idea — to hand her a rose — becomes a simple and easy thing to do.
On the subject of Aung San Suu Kyi, a letter to the Times from the Warden of St Antony’s College, and the Principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford:
On June 19 Aung San Suu Kyi, the champion of liberty and democracy in Burma/ Myanmar, will reach the age of 60. By that time she will have spent a total of 3,523 days under house arrest.
Our two colleges have elected her as an honorary Fellow. We have been denied the honour of welcoming her back to Oxford and expressing to her our admiration for her astonishing stamina, courage and commitment to her country’s cause.
She is the brightest light in the gloom of a country governed by a military dictatorship that rejects democracy, the rule of law and human rights. She is one of an illustrious few who have remained faithful to their political creeds and maintained their dignity despite their opponents’ efforts to humiliate them.
Let us hope that she will soon be one of the even smaller group who have survived the ordeal and become democratic leaders of their countries. Let her be the Mandela of Asia.
But that will happen only if the rest of the world puts real pressure on Burma’s current leaders. State sovereignty is not an acceptable excuse for withholding pressure. Let us all find ways of pressurising the dictators in Yangon/Rangoon. Innocent Burmese citizens may suffer as a result of that pressure, but Aung San Suu Kyi and the members of the majority party which she leads have repeatedly said that that price is one the country is ready to pay.
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