Alma Mater to honour Aung San Suu Kyi

Ne Nem
Mizzima News: 15 August, 2006

New Delhi: Burma’s democracy icon and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest in Burma, will be honoured by her alma mater the Lady Sri Ram College for Women (LSR) in New Delhi on August 21.

The ceremony is a part of the LSR’s on going golden jubilee celebrations in 2005-2006. The programme will also seek to honour and recognize Aung San Suu Kyi tireless efforts to restore democracy and justice to a country ruled by military dictators since 1962.

Dr. Shernaz Cama, in charge of the golden jubilee celebrations said, “She [Suu Kyi] has worked for the empowerment of those who are oppressed, and she has also spoken out fearlessly.”

“We feel very proud, we feel very happy of all, as many young people and alumna have done many things in this world in many fields of endeavor,” she added.

Aung San Suu Kyi, better known as ‘Suu’ by her classmates, was a student of the 1964 batch of the LSR College and studied Political Science. Her class mates in the same batch are Dr. Neera Chandoke, professor of Delhi University, Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, current Principal of the Lady Sri Ram College for Women and Malvika Karlekar who is working with the Centre for Women’s Development Studies.

In 1960 she came to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Burma’s ambassador to New Delhi.

For her undeterred spirit in restoring peace and democracy in Burma and her firm belief in non-violence, Suu Kyi won numerous awards including the Nobel Peace Prize and Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding.

After attending college in New Delhi, Suu Kyi went on to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics.

She returned to Burma in 1988 to attend her ailing mother but she was caught in the political turmoil prevailing at the time. Sensing the need for her involvement, she plunged headlong into politics and led the peoples’ movement that ousted the Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government.

Suu Kyi’s late husband Dr. Michael Aris, had said, “She [Suu Kyi] always viewed her education in Delhi and Oxford as a preparation for serving her own country.”

In 1990, her party – the National League for Democracy- won the election in a landslide victory but the poll results were not recognized by the military that came to power in a coup in 1988 after brutally cracking down on demonstrators.

Suu Kyi, currently under house arrest, has spent over 10 years of the last 18 years in solitary confinement.