{"id":753,"date":"2012-09-24T22:42:28","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T02:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sangamithra.wordpress.com\/?p=753"},"modified":"2012-09-24T22:42:28","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T02:42:28","slug":"aung-san-suu-kyi-in-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sangamithraiyer.com\/?p=753","title":{"rendered":"Aung San Suu Kyi in Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Just after dawn on Saturday Morning, my brother and I arrived at the gates of the Colden Center at Queens College, where Aung San Suu Kyi was schedule to speak later in the morning. A crowd had already started to form. Burmese Americans traveled from near and far to greet her. Some camped overnight with picnic blankets and lawn chairs. The queue was colorful, dotted with vibrant sarongs and longyis<\/em> matched with sandals and sneakers. \u00a0\u00a0I spotted a tote bag bearing Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s face on one side, and her father, Aung San on the other.\u00a0 Some came carrying red flags with the golden peacock, the symbol of the National League for Democracy. A few hundred had arrived and a few thousand were expected \u00a0to fill the hall during her Burmese address at 10:30 Am.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Prior to this, there was an event in English at 9 am, organized by Queens College at their Lefrak Concert Hall. Congressman Joseph Crowley, a Queens College graduate, hosted the program. Crowley, wearing a Saffron colored tie for the occasion, noted he, like Aung San Suu Kyi, was currently in the minority party in our legislature, and that maybe he and Daw Suu, the leader of Burma\u2019s opposition party, should exchange notes. Crowley acknowledged both Secretary Clinton and former first Lady Laura Bush\u2019s support for Burma, and hoped for more bipartisanship on this issue.<\/p>\n

When Crowley \u00a0learned of Suu\u2019s visit to the U.S. to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, he told her the people of New York wanted to see her. \u201cWe want to give you a very warm, a very Queens, New York City welcome.\u201d\u00a0Actress Angelica Huston read from Suu Kyi\u2019s seminal essay \u201cFreedom from Fear.\u201d Christine Quinn, the first female speaker of NYC’s City Council, offered her gratitude to the newly elected Burmese MP. \u00a0The city council has been active on fighting repression in Burma, and \u00a0Quinn acknowledged comptroller John Liu in the audience who has been addressing this issue with respect to the city\u2019s pension funds.<\/p>\n

Quinn went on to tell Daw Suu the ways in which she has helped the city of New York. \u201cTo see what you have been through with an unbelievable amount of grace and dignity…It gives all of us strength and courage\u2026 and reminds all of us that faith and perseverance are always rewarded, \u201d Quinn said. \u00a0\u201cI hope you know what you have done for the 8.4 million people living in New York City\u2026Reminding us that we have power. Reminding us that our voice maters and we are citizens of the world\u2026 we are in your debt every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Aung San Suu Kyi received a standing ovation and assumed her place at the podium. Dressed in dark green and black Burmese dress, with flowers in her hair, she addressed the crowd unscripted, giving a glimpse into the way her mind worked.<\/p>\n

She began talking about her love of New York when she had lived here many decades ago. \u201cI loved the city at a time when people thought it was terrible. It was the only city in the world where I never got lost.\u201d When she first arrived in 1968, she remembered her surprise to see that New York, a city of skyscrapers, did in fact look exactly like the post cards. She had a similar feeling when she was brought to Insein Prison for the first time. She was surprised that prison was just like the places with iron bars she read about in books. She recognized the similarity in these two moments, not to say that prison reminded her of New York (it did not), but to note that we can be surprised when we discover first hand that things are just like what we have been told. This applies too to the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany young Americans take it [democracy] for granted,\u201d she said. \u201cI always say to my friends who live in democratic countries: \u2018Don\u2019t take it for granted.\u2019\u201d She felt that those who didn\u2019t vote showed \u201ca lack of respect for a right you should guard with your life.\u201d Democracy requires practice and we must practice our duty as a citizen.\u00a0\u201cDuty may sound like a boring word,\u201d she said, \u201cbut duty is very stimulating if you really think about what duty is.\u201d She argued challenges are exciting, and \u201cthe greatest challenges are the ones where you have to struggle with yourself.<\/p>\n

Speaking to a college crowd, she said, \u201cYoung people here should not be ignorant of\u00a0[the conditions] of young people elsewhere\u201d After 50 years of military rule, the education system has \u201ctottered\u201d in Burma. [She was about to say collapsed, but opted for a more \u201cmoderate\u201d word]. \u201cAt one time, Burma had the best education system in South East Asia, \u201d she continued. But now there is a growing gap between the few well-educated and the masses who \u201cthrough no fault of their own have been ill prepared for the world into which they were born, \u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is the foundation of human dignity,\u201d Suu argued. \u201cUnless you know what your potential can be, you\u2019ll never know how to realize it.\u201d The young people in Burma will have to take over the responsibilities of nation building, she said, \u00a0and they need assistance preparing for their rightful place in society. \u00a0Speaking of young people, Suu mentioned that when she first met Crowley, she thought \u201cwhat a well brought up young man!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing better in the world than to see young people who are caring and who understand the needs of others. I think human beings are born generous, but sometimes we have that generosity squeezed out of us by circumstances in which we have to grow up. Don\u2019t let go of your generosity.\u201d She pointed to Crowley who is almost 6\u20195\u201d. \u201cLook at your colleague, how large he is, his heart is big in every way.\u201d\u00a0Laughter warmed the room.<\/p>\n

Several students had questions for Daw Suu. One had asked about the transition from being a dissident on the outside to an MP on the inside. She said that the transition has been perfectly natural. \u201cDissidents can\u2019t be dissidents forever. We are dissidents because we don\u2019t want to be dissidents.\u201d She is enjoying her time in the legislature. \u201cThere is lot of fun to be had if you know how to go about it…I don\u2019t believe in professional dissidents,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a phase, like adolescence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout this event and the later event in Burmese, her responses showed her sense of humor and her wit. After every remark in English or Burmese, the audience laughed and cheered or waved their red NLD flags. What I noticed is that Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s humor was never used to deflect the truth or evade a question, but rather to illuminate truth and provide a sincere response.<\/p>\n

Another student asked about the activities she undertook while under house arrest. She hoped no one in the room would ever need this advice, but if anyone would find themselves in her position, she said: \u201cSet yourself a very strict timetable.Otherwise you become undisciplined, which makes it more difficult to cope.\u201d\u00a0During the week, she kept to strict schedule of getting up, meditating, exercise, listening the radio, taking a bath and reading. She also believed in weekends and giving herself a break Saturday and Sunday not to adhere to a strict schedule.\u201cThis is the way I made my life under house arrest as normal as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

In responding to a question of what inspired her to join the struggle in Burma, she said, it was partly because of her father. \u201cBurma had not become the kind of country that he had meant it to be when he fought for independence.\u201d\u00a0Though the general Aung San died when Daw Suu was only two years old, he had a tremendous influence on her life. \u201cI was always told I was his favorite child\u2026Let me say this to parents: \u00a0Anybody who believes that he or she has been truly loved by one person, this gives him or her tremendous confidence in life. I had this tremendous confidence that came from how much my father loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She went on to study his life very closely. \u201cAlthough he was part of Burmese army, he was not really a man of violence, not really a man who preferred over confrontation to reconciliation\u2026 He was a man of quiet, deep, sincerity and tremendous warmth.<\/p>\n

And to the question of how she kept going, she responds,\u201cthe simple answer is that I didn\u2019t know how to stop. First because you don\u2019t want to abandon your principles, and second because you don\u2019t want to abandon your comrades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singer and songwriter Carol King, another Queens College graduate, concluded the program by performing a modified version of her song \u201cYou\u2019ve got a friend [Aung San Suu Kyi],\u201d while the honored guest held hands with the elected officials and actress on the stage, swaying back and forth and singing along.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Crowley presented Aung San Suu Kyi with a miniature replication of the Unisphere from the World\u2019s Fair in Flushing. \u00a0\u201cWe wanted to give you something that represented, New York and the World,\u201d he said. \u00a0And the motto of the fair \u2014Peace through Understanding\u2014 also seemed appropriate.<\/p>\n

After the event, a rally had been organized drawing attention to the persecution of the Rohingya Burmese muslims. Protesters \u00a0urged\u00a0Aung San Suu Kyi and her party to be more vocal on this issue.\u00a0<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During the talk, Suu Kyi acknowledged some of the signs of change that have occurred in Burma, but also that there is much more work to be done. \u201cWe are not anywhere near our goal of a true democratic society.\u201d At the end of her talk she told the room, \u201cstay with us until we have completed the journey\u2026when we, too, can help others in need, and Burma can once become the country it was way back before the military regime. We were a country of hope in our part of the world. We want to become a country that proves there can be such things as happy endings. When that happy ending arrives, I would like to welcome all of you Burma.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just after dawn on Saturday Morning, my brother and I arrived at the gates of the Colden Center at Queens College, where Aung San Suu Kyi was schedule to speak later in the morning. A crowd had already started to form. Burmese Americans traveled from near and far to greet her. Some camped overnight with … <\/p>\n

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