The plight of Aung San Suu Kyi may not be a household topic of conversation in the West, but she symbolizes the hope of millions around the world. On Monday (5/18), a trial will convene on the question of whether or not her detention ought to be extended past 27 May..
Since 1990, the ruling junta of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has kept Suu Kyi incarcerated in a state prison (currently) or under house arrest for most of the last nineteen years - severely limiting her mobility and denying her any communication with the outside world. Her crime? She was chosen to become Prime Minister of Burma in free and fair elections on a platform of peace, prosperity and democracy.
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Upon winning the election, the autocratic elite moved to cancel the election results and quash political opposition through mass arrests and political intimidation. As a result, the 63 year-old University of London PhD and Nobel Peace Prize recipient became a prisoner in her own home. While Suu Kyi has suffered, the people of Myanmar have endured even more hardship. As squalor rather than economic opportunity has defined existence for much of the population over the last two decades, their corrupt rulers have simultaneously managed to attract billions of dollars from China for oil and natural gas infrastructure projects. More than $2.5 billion has poured into the country from Beijing since last year alone.
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President Obama rightly extended US sanctions against Myanmar a few days ago, but the State Department needs to use its leverage to dissuade China from continuing to prop up the egregious regime in Rangoon. As the US is dependent on China to fund its borrowing through the purchase of treasury bills, however, Hillary Clinton may have little or no negotiating power - and that is the current and overarching tragedy of US diplomacy today.
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Although Suu Kyi will likely face additional years of detention from trumped up charges, the world must nevertheless unceasingly demand with one loud voice: 'Free Aung San Suu Kyi'.
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For her oppression is our oppression, and her hope, our hope.
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(Picture: Aung San Suu Kyi)
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J Roquen