Clare Bronfman

Aung San Suu Kyi

A few days ago I read the notice of Aung San Suu Kyi being further detained on house arrest. This to me is the antithesis of the intent of a justice system. The word “justice” derives from “just” which the dictionary defines as “based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair”. In my understanding the justice system exists to maintain a standard of ethical moral principles. When we do not maintain consistency in our standards we compromise our ethics; destroying our integrity. So what happens to justice?

Many years ago I was an avid smoker. Throughout my smoking days, I promised myself I would quit on many occasions however it wasn’t until years later I finally made the choice to quit. During the times I vowed to stop, often I would excuse away one cigarette, or two as it was better than the usual twenty. I would make all kinds of excuses to allow myself to feel better about it. In making such a promise to myself, and breaking it, I had compromised my own standards. We often sacrifice our own “justice” system for what feels better – for whatever we want in the moment.

In the situation with Aung San Suu Kyi the regime continues to change their laws to entitle themselves to create laws as they choose, and to keep an innocent, noble and remarkably strong woman detained on house arrest.

As each of us build a more consistent justice system within ourselves, we will expose those who do not, and raise our human standards. Around the world, amongst our leaders, un-ethical behavior will become intolerable – then change will occur.

I send my deepest gratitude to Aung San Suu Kyi  for being a remarkable example and inspiration for humanity and for her continued exposing of the corruption of the military Junta.

Click here for an update from the Burma Campaign.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

There are few individuals who have the strength to uphold their principles in the face of violence and oppression. Aung San Suu Kyi is such a person. British Prime Minister,Gordon Brown said “Suu Kyi’s courage is the courage to sacrifice her own happiness and a comfortable life so that, through her struggle, she might win the right of an entire nation to seek happy and comfortable lives. It is the absolute expression of selflessness. Paradoxically, in sacrificing her own liberty, she strengthens its cry and bolsters its claim for the people she represents”

Today, Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 13 years and 204 days in detention.

Her “crime”?

Believing in human rights and having the courage and strength to uphold her ideals.

Since winning the presidential election by an 82% margin in 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi has spent over 19 years in and out of detained arrest. Since her original detention the military regime has continued to make excuses to continue her detention. This year is no exception. May 27th, 2009, was to be the end of this long endured injustice, however on May 14th 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested for allegedly breaching the terms of her arrest after an uninvited American man broke into her home. She was taken to Insein Prison; notorious for its horrific conditions and abusive treatment of detainees, she is being denied medical treatment by her captors who are aware of her fragile health.

I think Aung San Suu Kyi herself describes this injustice profoundly in her “Freedom From Fear” Address: “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”

The question remains: How can we transform this fear, disseminate the need for power over others and build our own inner strength?

www.burmacampaign.org.uk