San Suu Kyi is the hope of Burma, whose capital city is Rangoon, a port city on the delta. Today, her voice is stilled because she is under house arrest she refused to leave Burma even to see her late husband Michael Aris, who died some time Back. She feared that the military regime may not have allow her to return from U.K. and she is firm on seeing Burma returning to democracy.

Who is Aung San Suu Kyi and how does one account for her meteoric rise and continued popularity is a country where the military has dominated all aspects of life for the past twenty-nine years and where no woman in modern times has ever been seriously considered for national leadership? Is she destined to wear the mantle of leadership that her assassinated father dropped more than forty years ago or is she a fleeting phenomenon?

San, the intellectual: Aung San Suu Kyi was born in 1945. Her father was killed when she was two. In addition to being a housewife with two small children, Aung San Suu Kyi kept up her academic work, gradually concentrating on modern Burmese history and literature. She was a visiting scholar at Kyoto University in Japan and at the Indian Institute of Advance Studies in New Delhi. On her return to Burma in 1988 she discontinued her studies at the London School of Oriental and African Studies. There is little in these outward events to suggest the role she was to embark on in 1988. But she was well prepared.

San, the leader: Since last about 10 years she is fighting for a cause, the return of democratic rule in Burma "The arrest and long isolation of Aung San Suu Kyi - of more than nine years' duration - place the strongest possible importance on the response of the international community. Without her active presence and the principled approach she has taken, prospects for stability and peaceful development are far from clear. The elections which were held in May 1990 resulted in a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi's party: it gained some 392 of the 485 legislative seats at stake in the National Assembly, representing 72 per cent of the 13 million votes cast. The military government's own party meanwhile captured a mere ten seats. The result were interpreted both in Burma and internationally as a referendum on Aung San Suu Kyi's proposed leadership of a free and democratic Burma, and more specifically as her personal triumph. The military, however, has simply refused to hand over power, keeping her and other opposition leaders under lock and key, and using its superior force and intimidation to maintain control.

She took a lesson from her father, about when she remarked. To Aung San, her father's leadership was a duty and could only be carried out on the basis of humility in face of the task before her and the confidence and respect of the people to be led. In her thinking, however, the demand for fearlessness is first and foremost a general demand, a demand on all of us. She has herself shown fearlessness in practice. She opposed herself alone to the rifle barrels. Can anything withstand such courage? What was in that major's mind when at the last moment he gave the order not to fire? Perhaps he was impressed by her bravery, Perhaps he realised that nothing can be achieved by brute force.

She was awarded noble Prize for peace in 1991, which was received by her two sons.

The speech of Professor Francis Sejerested Chairman of Norwegian Noble committee -on 10th Dec. 1991

"You Majesties, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are assembled here today to honour Aung San Suu Kyi for her outstanding work for democracy and human rights and to present to her the Noble Peace Prize for 1991. The occasion gives rise to many and partly conflicting emotions. The Peace Prize Laureate is unable to be here herself. The great work we are acknowledging has yet to be conducted. She is still fighting the good fight".

How do we compare San with today's women leaders of India, most of whom you know pretty well.

The political parties are fighting for reservation of seats in Lok Sabha for women. What purpose will this serve, if the level of leadership remains at present stage.

What we need is to create good women leaders and they will themselves find them rightful place in the Indian parliament.

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