Suu Kyi may not survive imprisonment

Last week, on May 19, the Burma military junta has finally found a reason to throw pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi into prison before next year's "multi-party" election. She is now on trial for violating the terms of her house arrest after a US man came uninvited to her home. Another two women who were living with her are also being tried. Many are expecting Suu Kyi to be convicted and if it is so, she will spend 5 years behind bars.

Insien Prison where Suu Kyi is currently being held

The National League of Democracy (NLD), the political party led by Suu Kyi, has warned the world about Suu Kyi's deteriorating health condition and is urging for immediate medical attention. The military junta's foreign ministry said in a press statement a few days ago that the NLD leader is provided with "adequate medical care".

Ms. Suu Kyi is one of many heroic symbols of world peace (the Prophet PBUH, Nelson Mandela, Martin Lurther King are among the others). She, who is now 63, has undergone years of injustice and persecution in her fight to bring democracy to Burma. In 1988, she said, "I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to what is going on". Suu Kyi is a daugther General Aung San, the general of Burma Independence Army.

What is there to learn about this remarkable lady? I've learnt the important essence in the process of inducing change from Suu Kyi's 19 years of struggle of democracy: determination (tekad yang bulat) and sacrifice (harga yang perlu dibayar). Determination is achieved when your belief burningly lives in you and sacrifice is done by paying the price of changing the status quo.

Let's look at one scenario to see this essence in practice.

The government has been trying to wipe corruptions (rasuah) out for almost a decade. Until now, little change is seen. The change that is to be brought about involves all levels of the society. This is where determination plays its role. Every single member of the society (the prime minister, the mayors, the clerks, the janitors) ought to believe that it's a heinous crime to involve in any kind of corruption. Once this is achieved, we now embody the determination we need to effect the change.

What about the sacrifice? As I have mentioned earlier, this change would have to be brought around to everyone. We all have the obligation to pay the price to free ourselves from corruption i.e. we must be willing to 'sacrifice' the corrupted society members regardless of their status and relation to us. What we are doing now is only eradicating bribery cases that are worth less than RM 10K. We don't have the guts to deal with cases that amount to millions of ringgit .We are still not willing to do the sacrifice required to achieve the change that we long for.

Suu Kyi's pursuit of a democratic country has had the determination and done the sacrifice. The determination was proven when the NLD successfully won the general election in 1990 and Suu Kyi has sacrificed 13 years of her freedom so the fight will remain persistent.

wAllahu 'alam