Wonder Woman One key to the success of New Orleanian Whitney Stewart's interesting biographies for children lies in her personal interviews with their subjects. In the case of Stewart's new book about Aung San Suu Kyi, the courageous leader of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar (formerly Burma), continuing this practice involved a certain measure of courage on the writer's part. Stewart's contacts with people who knew Suu Kyi gave her a grave understanding of the country's intensely repressive political climate. The act of visiting Suu Kyi's compound for an interview included the possibility of risk for Stewart's own safety as well as those who had assisted her in her research, making Stewart approach her 1995 trip with some trepidation. This visit involved considerable subterfuge, including hiding key files under code words in her electronic notebook and using a series of taxi cabs to approach Suu Kyi's compound. 'I never completely stopped looking over my shoulder, analyzing what I said, or who I was talking to," Stewart said. Aung San Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San, led Burma's struggle in the late 1930s for independence from British colonial rule. On July 19, 1947, just months after Britain granted Burma independence and free elections, Aung San was assassinated along with seven other important Burmese leaders. Burma's newly founded democratic government would come to an end in 1962 when, with the backing of the military, Ne Win gained power beginning a long reign of oppressive military rule. Aung San Suu Kyi was 2 years old when her father was assassinated. She was raised with traditional Burmese values within a loving circle of family and friends. She spent her adolescent years in India while her mother served as Burma’s ambassador to India, then attended college in England, worked in New York with the United Nations, married a British professor, had two children and traveled widely. In March 1988 Suu Kyi returned to Burma to care for her critically ill mother. At that time the Burmese people were bravely expressing their discontent with the military government by staging widespread demonstrations. These demonstrations led to increasingly brutal repressive measures by the Government. It was at this stage that Suu Kyi took up her father's legacy, standing with the pro-democratic leaders to form the National League for Democracy (NLD) and to begin her involvement in the nation's second struggle for independence. As the daughter of a revered national hero she provided a powerful rallying point, but it was her unswerving belief in democracy as the only path to peace and unity for the Burmese people and her persuasive speeches that cemented her position as a leader in her own right. By July 1989 Suu Kyi was considered such a threat to the government's ruling party (SLORC) that she was placed under house arrest while other NLD leaders and supporters were arrested and imprisoned. Suu Kyi remained confined to her home for six years. She preferred to serve as a reminder and symbol of the nation's desire for democratic reform rather than leave the country to join her family as the government hoped she would do. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, bringing international attention to the Burmese people's plight and the oppressive human rights conditions they have endured. In 1995 the SLORC bowed to international pressure ‘unconditionally' released Suu Kyi from house detention. It was a symbolic release only; she cannot move freely within the country, her children and husband have been denied entrance visas to visit her and the military routinely blocks access to her home. Stewart understood that to tell Suu Kyi's story she would have to provide readers with an introduction to the complex, shifting political history of Burma. She not only does an admirable job of clearly explaining Burma's struggles for independence but she also paints a moving picture of one woman's resolve to stand for a nonviolent solution to her country's problems regardless of personal cost. As in her two previous books in the "Newsmakers Biographies Series" (her subjects were the 14th Dalai Lama and Sir Edmund Hillary), Stewart combines extensive research with personal insight to provide a compelling, intimate portrait of an exemplary figure in contemporary history. |
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