The Lady and the Peacock

by Peter Popham

  14. “In recent years,” Sharp writes in the book’s recently updated first chapter: Gene Sharp, From Dictatorship to Democracy, The Albert Einstein Institution, p.1.

  GLOSSARY

  aingyi—cotton blouse

  anicca—Buddhist doctrine of impermanence

  balachaung—pounded dried shrimp and fish paste deep-fried with sugar, chili and tamarind paste

  baung-bi chut—“men-out-of-trousers,” referring to soldiers-turned civilian politicians

  bhaya—fear

  bodaw—teacher of the magical arts

  Daw—honorific prefix for middle-aged woman

  Dharma—the teaching of the Buddha

  gaung baung—sort of turban

  honne—unspoken reality (Japanese)

  hpoun—spiritual potency

  htamein—ankle-length woman’s longyi

  kamauk—farmer’s straw hat

  kikkake—turning point (Japanese)

  kyat—currency

  longyi—Burmese sarong, long skirt-like garment for everyday use by both sexes

  metta—loving-kindness

  nakao—face cream made from a particular type of tree bark

  nat-thana—powerful, persistent spirits that must be appeased

  nibbana—Burmese for nirvana

  samma-vaca—right speech

  sangha—the collective of Buddhist monks

  shinbyu—Buddhist coming-of-age ceremony for boys

  tatemae—official reality (Japanese)

  Tatmadaw—Burmese Army

  thanaka—generic term for face cream made from tree bark

  thathanabaing—senior monk

  weiksa—wizard

  yadaya—black magic

  LIST OF NAMES

  Note on Burmese names: Burmese do not have surnames, only given names which may number between one and four. Usually all given names are used when addressing someone, often preceded by an honorific, such as “U” (for an older man) or “Daw” (for an older woman).

  Aung San Suu Kyi’s family

  ALEXANDER ARIS (Burmese name Myint San Aung): Suu and Michael’s first son.

  AUNG SAN: Suu’s father, hero of Burmese independence struggle; often referred to as “Bogyoke” (pronounced “Bo-joke-e’)—Burmese for “General.”

  AUNG SAN LIN: Suu’s elder brother, drowned at age nine.

  AUNG SAN OO: Aung San and Daw Khin Kyi’s first-born son and Suu’s eldest brother, emigrated to US, engineer.

  DAW KHIN GYI: aunt who lived in Suu’s University Avenue compound.

  DAW KHIN KYI: Suu’s mother, nurse-turned-diplomat.

  DORA THAN É: celebrated prewar singer; not a relative but referred to by Suu as her “emergency aunt.”

  KIM ARIS (Burmese name Thein Lin): Suu and Michael’s second son.

  MICHAEL ARIS: Suu’s husband.

  THAKIN THAN TUN: brother of Daw Khin Kyi, leader of Burmese Communist Party.

  National League for Democracy (NLD)

  AUNG AUNG: son of Bo Min Lwin, Aung San’s personal bodyguard; head of Suu’s bodyguards during campaign tours.

  AUNG GYI: retired general, leading figure in military regime before being purged; the first Chairman of NLD.

  AUNG SHWE: head of NLD at time of Suu’s release in 1995.

  CHAN AYE: moderate member of NLD’s central executive committee.

  DAW MYINT MYINT KHIN: head of Rangoon Bar Association, member of NLD Central Executive Committee; jailed for many years.

  DAW NWE: wife of Ko Myint Swe; ran party’s PR operation with him.

  HWE MYINT: one of Suu’s earliest political allies.

  KO AUNG: colleague of Ko Myint Swe in Suu’s office.

  KO MAW: colleague of Ko Myint Swe in Suu’s office.

  KO MYINT SWE: poet, Rangoon University librarian, party worker.

  KYAW SOE LIN: party lawyer, Suu’s heroic driver at Depayin.

  KYI MAUNG: retired colonel, founder member of party.

  MA THANEGI: painter, writer, Suu’s personal assistant on tour although never NLD member.

  MA THIDA: medical student and early member of party.

  MAUNG THAW KA: naval hero-turned-writer and poet, advisor to Suu, died in jail.

  MYO THEIN: Suu’s driver on campaign tours, nicknamed “Tiger.”

  NYO OHN MYINT: university lecturer, early member of NLD, in exile in Thailand.

  SEIN WIN: cousin of Suu’s; Prime Minister of National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma NCGUB in exile.

  THAKIN TIN MYA: communist; early collaborator with Suu.

  TIN OO: retired general, vice chairman and cofounder of NLD, detained for many years.

  U HLA PE: senior member of campaign touring group.

  WIN KHET: personal assistant to Suu.

  WIN THEIN: one of Suu’s bodyguards on campaign.

  WIN TIN: dissident journalist, founder member of NLD, jailed for nineteen years.

  WUNNA MAUNG: Suu’s bodyguard at Depayin.

  The Regime

  AUNG LYNN HTUT: former member of Khin Nyunt staff, diplomat in Burma’s US embassy before defecting.

  KHIN MAUNG WIN: deputy Foreign Minister, apologist for Depayin massacre.

  LIEUTENANT GENERAL KHIN NYUNT: protégé of Ne Win; head of military intelligence.

  GENERAL MAUNG AYE: third member of Than Shwe-Khin Nyunt triumvirate.

  MAUNG MAUNG: President from August 1988 to Sep 1988, replacing Sein Lwin.

  MAUNG TUN: major who countermanded Captain Myint U’s order to fire on Suu and NLD at Danubyu, probably saving Suu’s life.

  BRIGADIER MYINT AUNG: fierce enemy of NLD at Danubyu.

  MYINT U: captain at Danubyu who ordered troops to fire at Suu and NLD party.

  NE WIN: general who seized power in coup in 1962; ex-comrade of General Aung San.

  GENERAL SAW MAUNG: first Chairman of SLORC, supplanting Maung Maung as head of state.

  SEIN LWIN: “the Butcher,” briefly replaced Ne Win as President.

  LIEUTENANT COLONEL THAN HAN: the military commander behind Depayin assault.

  GENERAL THAN SHWE: Chairman of SLORC/SPDC, replacing Saw Maung in 1992; in power until 2010.

  BRIGADIER GENERAL THAN TUN: member of Khin Nyunt staff; negotiated with Suu in 2004.

  TIN AUNG HEIN: Minister of Justice under Ne Win.

  TIN PE: the “Red Brigadier”; hard-liner in Ne Win regime.

  U WIN SEIN: Secretary of USDA, Minister of Transport; urged “eradication” of Suu before Depayin.

  Diplomats

  IBRAHIM GAMBARI: UN Deputy Secretary-General in mid 1990s.

  ROBERT GORDON: British ambassador in late 1990s.

  RAZALI ISMAIL: UN envoy in early 1990s.

  MARTIN MORLAND: British ambassador during 1988 uprising.

  U THANT: third Secretary-General of the United Nations.

  Historical Figures

  BA MAW: Prime Minister between the wars.

  BRIGADIER KYAW ZAW: one of Aung San’s thirty comrades; chided by Suu for lack of involvement in political struggle.

  SIR J.G. (GEORGE) SCOTT, aka Shway Yoe: British governor in Shan States; author of The Burman.

  SUPAYALAT: Thibaw’s queen, exiled with him in 1886.

  THIBAW: last King of Burma, exiled by British in 1886.

  U OTTAMA: Buddhist monk, anti-British activist.

  Others

  ASSHIN ISSARIYA, aka King Zero: Buddhist monk, leader of Saffron Revolution in 2007.

  BO KYI: student leader in 1988; founder and head of Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

  GENERAL BO MYA: historic leader of Karen Independence Army.

  KHAING SAW THUN: lawyer; refugee in Manerplaw camp, 1991.

  DAW KHIN KHIN WIN: companion/housekeeper for Suu in detention.

  KHIN MYINT: younger sister of Tin Tin, childhood friend of Suu’s.

  KITTY BA THAN: one of Ne Win’s several wives.

  LEO NICHOLS, “Uncle Leo”: Anglo-Burmese businessman and family friend of Suu’s. />
  MAUNG PHONE MAW: first victim of police violence, March 1988.

  MAUNG ZARNI: sociologist and activist.

  MEE MA MA: daughter of Khin Khin Win; fellow companion/housekeeper for Suu.

  MIN KO NAING: student leader.

  DR. NAING AUNG: student leader in 1988; now in exile in Thailand.

  NITA YIN YIN MAY: information officer at British Embassy.

  PASCAL KHOO THWE: former student leader, writer.

  ROSS DUNKLEY: Australian entrepreneur and journalist, founder of the Myanmar Times.

  SOE TINT: family friend of Suu’s; escort of Daw Khin Kyi on Martyr’s Day.

  THANT MYINT-U: grandson of U Thant; writer.

  TIN TIN: childhood friend of Suu’s.

  DR. TIN TUN OO: regime crony; Chief Executive of Myanmar Times.

  U GAMBIRA: Buddhist monk; leader of Saffron Revolution.

  U NU: elected Prime Minister; overthrown by Ne Win.

  FURTHER READING

  The Burma bookshelf is short compared to that of other nations of South and Southeast Asia. The fact that books by or about Aung San Suu Kyi form such a large proportion of the total reflects not only her fame and popularity abroad, but also the reclusive nature of the state under military rule and the extreme difficulty of working there as a journalist or academic researcher.

  The first biography of Suu to appear was Aung San Suu Kyi: Toraware no Kujaku, by Yoshikazu Mikami (1991), which is particularly strong on the Japanese connections of Aung San and his daughter.

  Several other biographies have been published subsequently. The Lady: Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi by Barbara Victor (1998) and Aung San Suu Kyi: Towards a New Freedom by Ang Chin Geok (1998) are slim volumes, and both now very dated. Le Jasmin ou la Lune (2007) by the Bangkok-based Belgian journalist Thierry Falise is a fast-paced and fascinatingly detailed account of Suu’s career, in French. Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi by Justin Wintle (2007) devotes much space to the premodern history of Burma and is often skeptical about Suu’s career, blaming her “intransigence” as the reason why she has spent so many years in detention. But the book’s main weakness is that, through no fault of his own, the author never actually met the book’s subject.

  Of Suu’s own written work, the most important essays are collected in Freedom from Fear (1995), which contains her short biography of her father, her seminal long essay Intellectual Life in Burma and India under Colonialism, and other political landmarks such as her first speech at Shwedagon in August 1988. It also contains the tributes of friends, including Ann Pasternak Slater’s moving and intimate memoir, Suu Burmese. Letters from Burma (1997) is a collection of the pieces Suu wrote regularly for the Mainichi Daily News in Tokyo after her release from house arrest in 1995.

  One of the most revealing works about Suu’s life and beliefs is The Voice of Hope (2008), a series of interviews conducted over a period of months by Alan Clements, a former Buddhist monk, in which Suu speaks more candidly about herself than ever before or since.

  Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics by Gustaaf Houtman (1999) is a fascinating scholarly account of the role Suu plays in Burmese politics, informed by the author’s excellent knowledge of Burma and Burmese. Though out of print, it can be downloaded from Google Books.

  For more on other aspects of Burma, the following can be recommended:

  INSURGENCY AND DEMOCRACY STRUGGLE

  Outrage by Bertil Lintner (1990): a blow-by-blow history by the Swedish journalist, a veteran Burma-watcher, of the great Burmese uprising and its bloody suppression, enriched by numerous interviews and depositions by Burmese in the front line.

  Land of Jade: a Journey through Insurgent Burma by Bertil Lintner (1990): the story of Lintner’s unique journey with his young and heavily pregnant wife—she gave birth en route—through the war-torn badlands of the Burmese frontier. A gem that deserves to be much better known.

  Burma: Insurgency & the Politics of Ethnicity by Martin Smith (1991), a detailed history of the insurgencies that have bedeviled Burma since independence and their causes.

  Little Daughter by Zoya Phan (2009): the moving autobiography of a Karen girl born and raised in the thick of Burma’s ethnic wars.

  Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant by Benedict Rogers (2010): the only detailed biography of the man who bent Burma to his will from 1993 to 2010.

  HISTORY

  The most readable general introduction to Burmese history is The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma by Thant Myint-U (2006), which contrives to bring the region’s endless dynastic wars and reversals of fortune to life.

  Forgotten Land/A Rediscovery of Burma by Harriet O’Brien (1991) blends personal reminiscence—the author spent years in the country as a diplomatic “brat”—with a pithy yet vivid account of Burmese history.

  Defeat into Victory by Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1956) describes how the Second World War unfolded in Burma and includes a memorable account of the British commander’s meeting with Aung San.

  Two concise and authoritative works on contemporary Burma are: A History of Modern Burma by Michael W. Charney (2009), and Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know by David I. Steinberg (2010).

  RELIGION

  In This Very Life: The Liberation Teachings of the Buddha by Sayadaw U Pandita (1989) is the book that Michael Aris gave Suu at the start of her first spell of detention: a bracingly straightforward manual of how to attain wisdom and peace through meditation, hugely influential in Burma and beyond, by a living master.

  Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power by Ingrid Jordt (2007) is the only scholarly account of this important movement.

  Religion and Politics in Burma by Donald Eugene Smith (1965): a scholarly description of the political role played in Burma by Buddhism, before during and after annexation by Britain.

  SOCIETY

  The Burman: His Life and Notions by Shway Yoe (first published 1882, reissued in 1989): a beautifully written and frequently hilarious exploration of Burmese life from birth to death and beyond, a cornucopia for anyone intrigued by the country. Shway Yoe was the pen name of J.G. (later Sir George) Scott, a colonial administrator who spent many years in the Shan States.

  Karaoke Fascism: Burma and the Politics of Fear by Monique Skidmore (2004) and Burma at the Turn of the 20th Century edited by Monique Skidmore (2005): two brave efforts by intrepid anthropologists and social scientists to get to grips with Burma, despite great discouragement by the authorities.

  MISCELLANEOUS

  Burmese Days by George Orwell (1944) and Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin (2006): Burma, where Orwell served as a colonial policeman, played an important role in the formation of his political ideas, confirming his hatred of colonialism. His first novel is a deeply unflattering portrait of Burma under the British—and Burma under the generals bears a striking resemblance to the world of 1984. Larkin, an American journalist and Burmese speaker, traveled through Burma in Orwell’s footsteps, teasing out the parallels.

  From the Land of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Thwe (2002), the vivid memoir of the up-country boy from the Padaung tribe, famous for their “giraffe-necked” women, who fled into exile in 1989 and went on to study English at Cambridge.

  The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire by Andrew Marshall (2002): a witty travelogue entwined with a re-telling of the life story of Sir George Scott (see The Burman, above)

  The Native Tourist: A Holiday Pilgrimage in Burma by Ma Thanegi (2005): what Suu’s former friend did next: a whimsical but informative journey through the country.

  CURRENT AFFAIRS

  Three news websites run by Burmese expatriates offer the best and most detailed coverage of events inside a country that remains remarkably opaque: The Irrawaddy, based in Chiangmai, Thailand (www.irrawaddy.org); Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Norway (www.dvb.no); and Mizzima News Agency, based in New Delhi (www.mizzima.com).

&nb
sp; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Many people have helped me in many different ways during the research and writing of this book, but some of my debts of gratitude antedate it by decades. It was Alexander Chancellor, my first editor at the Independent, who in 1991 agreed to send me to Burma with the photographer Greg Girard to research an article on the fate of Burma’s democracy movement for the Independent Magazine. Eleven years on, Leonard Doyle, foreign editor of the same paper, sent me to Rangoon to interview Aung San Suu Kyi and then made a fundamental contribution to the project by introducing me to Mark Farmaner and Anna Roberts at the Burma Campaign UK. Mark and Anna have helped me in innumerable ways since then, not least by reading the first draft and drawing my attention to many errors and omissions, and their colleagues, in particular Zoya Phan, have also been very kind. However, neither I nor anyone else involved in the book’s publication is connected to the Burma Campaign UK in any way, and all opinions and conclusions expressed in the book are mine alone.

  Suu’s English in-laws are understandably shy of publicity, but I cannot avoid mentioning the kindness and warmth they showed me even when they had no idea whether or not I could be trusted. Since then we have become good friends, and they have contributed greatly to the value of the book, not only through endless conversations but by introducing me to other people and by reading the first draft and pointing out mistakes. Once they had read the book and decided it was worthwhile, they also did me the great honor of allowing me to quote from or at least look over certain material of a private nature, and to use a number of family photographs.

  Harriet O’Brien, Lady Gore-Booth, Patricia Herbert, Martin Morland, Robert and Pam Gordon, Tom and Danielle White and Anna Allott are others closely associated with Burma and Suu who have been generous with their knowledge and contacts.

  I met Dr. Maung Zarni much later in the process of research than I would have wanted, but he made up for lost time by providing me with much information that I could have obtained nowhere else, and by the endless stimulation of his ideas.

  My old school friend Steve Weinman, his wife Khin Myint and Khin’s sister Tin Tin have made an important contribution to this project. Khin and Tin Tin have been constantly available to correct my errant notions and answer strange questions, and Khin in particular is to be thanked for an introduction which changed the book’s prospects.