Aung San Suu Kyi proxy elected president of Burma

AP (ap.org/mail.com); TheGuardian.com; Andrew Win, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Nobel Peace Laureate, democracy icon, Burmese leader: the Lady Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Htin Kyaw, left, newly elected president of Burma, walks with National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, at Burma's parliament in Naypyitaw (the dictatorship's capital) March 15, 2016. Parliament elected Htin Kyaw Tuesday, a watershed moment that ushers the longtime opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi into government.

Suu Kyi loyalist and friend elected president

CIA asset holds picture of Aung San Suu Kyi

NAYPYITAW, Burma - Burma's parliament elected Htin Kyaw as the country's new president Tuesday in a watershed moment that ushers the longtime opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi into government after 54 years of direct or indirect military rule.

(March 14, 2016) The joint session of the two houses of parliament broke into thundering applause as the speaker Mann Win Khaing Than announced the result:

 

"I hereby announce the president of Myanmar is Htin Kyaw, as he won the majority of votes." Immediately, the state-run Myanmar TV's camera zoomed in from above on a beaming [The Lady Daw Aung San] Suu Kyi, sitting in the front row, clapping excitedly, for a live nationwide audience.

Theravada Buddhist monks hold up Burmese and American flags (telegraph.co.uk).

 

The 70-year-old Htin Kyaw, a longtime confidant of Suu Kyi, will take office April 1 but questions remain about his position and power. Rightfully, the job belonged to Suu Kyi, who has been the face of the pro-democracy movement and who endured decades of house arrest and harassment by military rulers without ever giving up on her non-violent campaign to unseat them.

 

But a constitutional provision [instituted by the military dictators] barred Suu Kyi from becoming president, and she made it clear that whoever sits in that chair will be her proxy [so she is now effectively Burma's president as she was once elected to be before the military took over]. More

That's nice, very nice. But we and Gen. Than Shwe still rule behind the scenes (AFP).

Aung San Suu Kyi loyalist confirmed for Burma's presidential race

Is Burma's president a proxy for Suu Kyi?

Burma's president to be selected Tuesday

Burmese president votes in "military [dictatorship] country"

Burmese house begins new session dominated by Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party

Encounters in a Forgotten Country: Burma

Ton Kraayenvanger, May 2013; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

See Part 2/11

Burma has a new name -- Myanmar -- given to it by dictators. Its size is more than five times that of England, and almost twice as big as Germany. The Theravada Buddhist country is dotted with pagodas, stupas (sacred reliquaries), and monasteries.

 

Former glorious empire in 1580

Burma has a deeply-rooted Buddhist culture and many distinct ethnic groups. Walking through its Buddhist culture is intrusive -- even overwhelming. If the term were not condescending, one could probably say that it is the country's main attraction.

The former capital of Rangoon is not known for its architecture. There are some striking cottages built by the British. They are far from beautiful but quite out of place. Yet, former colonial Rangoon is worth seeing. It is immediately noticeable that the city is not as dirty as many other Asian metropolises.

 

Largest Buddha statues in Asia in Burma (WQ)

One will not be blown off the pavement by public karaoke machines and runaway scooters. It is pleasing that it is less dirty and less noisy. The center is populated by traders who use a large part on the sidewalk and the Madurodam terraces. Here one can drink green tea or eat deep fried snacks of indefinable origin. 

 
Every compassionate Buddhist resists the killing of living beings, but it seems to be no obstacle to eating the murdered remains of animals for many. 

Burma's dictator, Gen. Than Shwe

One looks around in wonder. There is trade in everything. Many places offer printed tee-shirts and laminated photographs of The Lady, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and her famous father for sale. This was unthinkable before due to police state crackdowns by the military junta led by Gen. Than Shwe. (See Patricia Arquette in Beyond Rangoon).

 

Suu Kyi finally free, in the White House

There are even DVDs for sale of "The Lady," a film about the life of Suu Kyi, now a member of Parliament. Its lead actress, Michelle Yeoh, was expelled less than a year ago. Apparently, people are more daring now that a sham civilian government is in power. The dictators still pull the strings from their secretive new capital, Naypyidaw.

Recent history of regards Suu Kyi's father, Aung San, is known as a freedom fighter. In the West, he enjoys a reputation as a freedom fighter that helped liberate the nation from colonial slavery. But for many Britons, who were ousted, he was a war criminal.
 

Shwedagon Pagoda (Farnesina/flickr)

Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon has some of the most important Buddhist structures on Earth short of the larger structures in Afghanistan (Mes Aynak, Bamiyan), Indonesia (Borobudur, a UNESCO site), and Cambodia (Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Mount Kulen, Mahendra Parvata). 

The Shwedagon complex is situated on a high hill. Golden and well lit, Shwedagon shines and sparkles from afar. Entering the sacred sanctuary, as in many places in the country, is only allowed barefoot.

 
During the colonial period, British occupiers emphasized their superiority by blatantly disregarding this tribute and keeping their footwear on. This must have cut deep wounds in the Buddhist psyche. Today one dare not try such an offense or risk being immediately called to order.

The steps up are quite a climb. Only once one has reached the top, gasping for breath, does the stupa become overwhelming, particularly in the bright morning sun. It is blindingly brilliant. Bring sunglasses. For all that glitters is gold here.

 

Buddhist nuns in pink (AFP)

Everywhere there are people -- walking quietly, sitting on the marble ground, meditating -- others talking with one other in hushed tones. People are busy making offerings or libations of water on Buddha statues. Visiting a pagoda is an integral part of daily life.

This pagoda is a place to pay tribute to the highest aspiration (enlightenment and nirvana), individually or with a loved one, a friend, or relatives, as well as to gain ordinary happiness. People are very devout, sometimes briefly for their visit, sometimes for a long time after.

Simultaneously, the pagoda is a place to stroll around and chat. In brief, it is a place for worship as well as a social place, serene and relaxed. The city center is small enough for a pleasant walk in what was once the wealthiest country in Southeast Asia before being plundered by the British. 

• U.S. trade deal with Burma could open door for change 
• In Burma, fear gives way to anger toward business elite: Burmese tycoons prospered under military dictators but are now trying to cast themselves as philanthropists.

Burma's Suu Kyi honored by White House

BBC.co.uk

The Lady, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (AFP)

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has finally received in person the US Congressional Gold Medal she was awarded under house arrest in 2008.

   

Aung San Suu Kyi described it as "one of the most moving days of my life."

  

She also met President Obama at the White House, shortly after the US Treasury said it had lifted sanctions on Burma's President Thein Sein.

  

Sanctions on Burma have been loosened since the new government began enacting democratic reforms in 2011.

  

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former first lady Laura Bush were present at the medal ceremony, in the Capitol Rotunda, in Washington.

• Timeline: Reforms in Burma
• Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi

"The ties of friendship and understanding that have developed between you and lovers of democracy in Burma compensate for much of the trials we had to suffer over the past decades," Aung San Suu Kyi said after receiving the medal.

  

She said that, despite its inherent imperfections, democracy remained a "beacon of hope for all of us" and reminded the audience that there were many, in Burma and beyond, for whom freedom was "just a dream."

  

"There will be difficulties in the way ahead, but I'm confident that we shall be able to overcome all obstacles with the help and support of our friends," she added.

  

Aung San Suu Kyi herself was released from house arrest in 2010. More

Buddhist Suu Kyi accepts Nobel Prize

Text: NPR.org, June 16, 2012; USCampaignforBurma.org; Wisdom Quarterly

Worldwide protests, such as this one in Japan, were needed to gain Daw Suu's liberty (AFP)

   

Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy opposition leader of Burma (Myanmar), spoke in Norway today, formally accepting the peace prize she was awarded in 1991 while under house arrest by the authoritarian forces that led a coup and have held Burma hostage ever since. Her supporters portrayed the moment as a belated victory for democracy and human rights.

   

Introducing Suu Kyi, Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland hailed her as a champion of mankind, whose words give hope to the world. He added that his committee was right to award her the prize, and that thanks to people like her, democratic states will always prevail over autocratic ones.

  

"The democracies of the world should not despair today when they see authoritarian regimes outpacing their economic growth," Jagland said. "This is temporary [and] the regimes will be broken apart by inner contradictions if they do not reform themselves."

   

When Suu Kyi was awarded the prize in 1991, she was still under house arrest. So her [British] husband Michael Aris and two sons, Kim and Alexander, accepted the prize for her. More

  

World Peace and Nonviolence (video)

My Morning with the Dalai Lama

2012 World Peace and Nonviolence: Always Continue!

(GyalwaRinpoche) The concluding session of the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates held in Chicago on April 25, 2012. There was a taped message from The Lady Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy freedom fighter. Panelists included the 14th Dalai Lama, former President Mikhail Gorbachev, Professor Jody Williams, and Professor Muhammad Yunus, creator of the micro-loan system in Bangladesh that liberated women. Video is courtesy of the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

Burma's Avalokiteshvara: Aung San Suu Kyi

Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Yogi Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Mary Kay Magistad (PRI)

National heroine, The Lady (Daw) Aung San Suu Kyi looks down from high during stirrings of the country's Saffron Revolutions yearning to be free of totalitarian abuses.

Burma (or Myanmar as its military dictators renamed it) is a wondrous place, undisturbed by hordes of tourists since ousting British colonizers who opened up its riches and mysteries to the outside world. It is the Land of Golden Buddhas, achingly poor due to political corruption on a scale only the old UK could be proud of.

Aung San at home in an old British colonial in Rangoon (voiceseducation.org)

Although the hordes are gone, there have always been a few intrepid visitors careful not to enrich General Than Shwe's Chinese-backed totalitarian regime by their travels. Now Hillary Clinton hopes to bring them by by opening up one of the world's oldest Southeast Asian Buddhist countries and is finding help from a starring figure inside the country.

• AUDIO: On the Campaign Trail with Aung San
  

Aung San Suu Kyi poster (guardian.co.uk)

Avalokiteshvara is the "Bodhisattva of Compassion," who apparently comes in many guises beginning as the Indian "lord who looks down from on high" introduced to most Buddhists in the Heart Sutra (a later Mahayana creation). He is transformed into a central figure of the divine feminine as Kwan Yin. And in this form seems to currently be embodied in peace activist and national heroine Aung San Suu Kyi.



Totalitarian forces could not suppress the love the people feel for Daw ("the Lady"), daughter of one of Burma's founding fathers. They denied her her democratic election by imprisoning her after a coup. She has been on and off house arrest ever since, refusing to leave the country to be with her British husband, now deceased, or her family. Now Daw is running for office, and the people are loving it. Her role would be relatively minor compared to president or prime minister. But it is a start the Burmese are ecstatic to contemplate.

• Avalokiteshvara: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
• USCampaignForBurma.org
• ABC-of-meditation.com
• A True Union of Hearts and Mind (Tutu Foundation)
• When awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was called “One of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades.” She has said that one of her inspirations was South Africa’s successful struggle to end apartheid [racial segregation imposed by a ruling minority] led by peacemakers like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and others who never stopped working to make South Africans free from oppression.

Tour by Burma's Lady could cause riots

US Campaign for Burma

RANGOON, Burma (Reuters) A possible tour of Burmese by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi could cause riots, state media warned on Wednesday (June 28, 2011), implying she would be responsible for her own safety.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi is planning her first trip outside the former capital Rangoon/Yangon since she was freed from home detention last year just after elections to end army rule. [They capital was moved by the country's dictators to a private city built from scratch called Naypyidaw.]

The military still effectively controls the government.

Uppatasanti, a replacement Shwedagon Pagoda in Nyapyidaw

"Her followers and supporters are gushing that the icon must keep in touch with the public. They seem willing to exploit the public. They also propagate that the government is responsible for security of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on her trip," a commentary in all three official newspapers said.

"We are deeply concerned that if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi makes trips to countryside regions, there may be chaos and riots, as evidenced by previous incidents," it added.

"Daw" is an honorific in Burma for women.

In 2003, in an episode now known as the Depayin Massacre, Suu Kyi's motorcade was attacked by pro-junta thugs and 70 of her supporters died in what was seen as an assassination attempt. More

The Lady, Burma's Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

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The Lady: Burma's Democracy Leader

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FREE KYI

Kyi Faces Jail - Burma dissidents in Thailand call for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is due to appear in court on the pretext of breaching the terms of her house arrest.

• VIDEO (Reuters: 1 min 47 sec)

Free Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma)

Free Aung San Suu Kyi immedi-ately as well as 1,400 other Burmese political prisoners. As of today she has been detained for a total of:

13 years and 195 days

The legitimately and democrat-ically elected leader of Burma is now serving her third term of house arrest. She was arrested on 30 May, 2003 after the regime's militia attacked her convoy and killed up to 100 of her supporters.