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IA message ofAung San Suu Kyi'sStruggleMikio Oishi

Aung San Suu Kyi 's struggle for human rights and democracy inBurma continues in the extremely difJicuit political climate of hercountry. This article hopes to explore factors behind her tirelessactivity and discuss their implications.

27

Almost 8 years have passed since Aung San Suu Kyi started herstruggle for human rights and democracy in Burma. Despite theoverwhelming victory of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy inthe general election of 1990, the military is still in power and has sofar shown no real sign of softening its iron grip on the Burmesepeople. On the other hand, Suu Kyi has managed to persevere in herendeavour in an extremely hostile political climate.

There are some prominent features of her struggle which distinguish itfrom others. Firstly, she relies on teachings of the Buddha, which arethe backbone of Burmese culture. According to her, democracy andhuman rights are ideas not alien to the country. For example, Bud-dhism emphasises the fact that each person, unlike animals, isinvaluable as a being entitled to a buddha-hood, the state of finalenlightenment. On the other hand, she points out that the Burmese

Dr. Oishi is a fellow at Just World Trust (JUST) and a member of the "Research andEducation for Peace" unit at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang .

tradition includes the government among the "five perils" for society.Thus, a number of codes of conduct for the rulers, such as the TenDuties of Kings, have been stipulated to check their power. Moreover,the tradition says that the government cannot oppose the will of thepeople, who are encouraged by the Buddhist scriptures to independent-ly use their own understanding and judgement. Thus, by drawing onthe Burmese tradition and its spiritual values, Suu Kyi has become arallying point for the Burmese people. It has also enabled her, in herconfrontation with the military government, to achieve a moral highground, which has sustained her from within.

Secondly, Suu Kyi does not regard her struggle as essentially a powerstruggle. Hers is an exercise to establish personal and social integrity(in physical, mental and spiritual terms) against forces which woulddestroy it, and, in the end, to realise human dignity for all Burmesepeople. She expresses the aspirations of the ordinary people in Burma:"We just want to be able to go about our own business freely andpeacefully, not doing anybody any harm, just earning a decent livingwithout anxiety and fear," Unfortunately, such a vision has notbecome a reality as yet, and will remain so until a struggle to recover

28 their human dignity is accomplished. She urges the Burmese people to- participate in such a struggle, and envisages the time when even the

military junta members are finally converted to the cause of the people,by "coming to their senses" at last. Because of the essentially concilia-tory nature of her struggle and because of her respect for life, she isopposed to creating a polarised situation in which a headlong clashbetween the mobilised people and the armed forces may take place.She prefers an incremental and educational approach.

Lastly, Suu Kyi considers "overcoming fear" as the most fundamentalchallenge for those who seek to create a just society. The most compel-ling article so far written by her starts with a passage: "It is not powerthat corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield itand fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."Fear freezes one's true personality, and in such a state one can commiteven the most hideous acts. Fear, by mocking one's conscience andintellect, destroys a person's respect. Suu Kyi condemns socialinstitutions which manipulate fear as a means of social control, andcalls for a struggle to liberate ourselves and society from its grip. Here,Suu Kyi's struggle transcends the specific context of Burma, and sendsa personal message to each one of us, who may consider ourselves alucky lot, but may still be slaves of fear of one kind or another. Her

message points out the perennial reality of our life on earth--that it is aprocess of character-building involving a continual struggle - astruggle to choose good and truth and to reject evil and falsity inwhatever domains of life we are, and with courage. Our dignity andself-respect are at stake, and none of us is exempt from such a strug-gle. Are we prepared to take up this challenge?

Courtesy: Just World TrustContact Add.: r.o. Box 448, 10760 Penang, Malaysia., TeI: 604,-6565157/'5565159,Fax: 604-6563990, E-Mail: core @just.po.my

SRUTI1 AND SMRITF

"Indian orthodoxy accepts the idea that Sanatana Dharma' is thatwhich teaches the eternal universal truths and the Yuga Dharma' isrelevant only to a particular period of time or place" Sruti pertains to, I 29expounds, Sanatana Dharma and Smriti expounds yuga dharma. Incase of conflict Sruti prevails. Smritis, like Manu Smriti etc., become,"obsolete, irrelevant and give way to another smriti. And all our oldsmritis have now become irrelevant, when we adopted our newDemocratic Constitution in 1950. No old smriti rules can go againstthe Constitution. Therefore, we have got another smriti, namely, ourConstitution; it is like a smriti, which we can change, amend, andalter, being a human contribution, made in response to the changingcondition of society with a view to making human life better andbetter"

Swami Ranganathananda from: Practical Vedanta and the Scienceof Values, Advaita Ashram Publication p.20.

1. Refers to the three earliest vedas - the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda and Sam Veda.

2. Connotes the scriptural code of conduct for various social groups written at differentpoints of time.

3. Connotes' Codes for Eternal Order'.

4. Connotes 'Codes for the Contemporary Order'.

Excerpted by: Rajni Bakshi, Social Activist.Bombay.