It’s an early Easter in Burma (Myanmar), even if the majority of the people are Buddhist, and the story of Our Lord’s rising from the grave may be unfamiliar and strange.
But they have Aung San Suu Kyi, who has risen from a virtual political grave after nearly two decades under house arrest, forbidden to even receive visitors, except those who were granted permission by the ruling military junta. But Suu Kyi, who is known simply as “The Lady” by her countryfolk, refused to quietly fade from the limelight. Though far from the public eye, she captured the imagination of her people, and indeed of the world, by her dignified presence and her strong, unshakeable belief that freedom would one day reign in her native land. In 1991, she was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, in acknowledgement of her patient, nonviolent opposition to her country’s military rulers, and her staunch support for the pro-democracy movement.
These attributes were brought to a severe test when, in 2007, hundreds of Buddhist monks took to the streets of Rangoon (Yangon) and elsewhere to protest rising oil prices. Despite the restrictions imposed on her public appearances, Suu Kyi met with some monks at the gate of her house, receiving a blessing from them as they marched in protest. It was the first sign of public unrest in Burma, signals that the people were beginning to chafe under decades of corrupt, repressive rule. Even if the uprising of the monks was put down with savagery and efficiency, so much so that the rivers were said to run red with the monks’ blood, it failed to finally quell the people’s rising expectations.
In the last few years, much to the surprise and skepticism of observers, the junta leaders loosened much of their controls. By 2010, following much-criticized general elections, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. And when the junta called for a by-election this year, Suu Kyi’s reorganized and reenergized party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won 43 of the 44 parliament seats it had contested.
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Suu Kyi, “The Lady” of the quiet demeanor but steely resolve, will most certainly be one of these new parliamentarians, and this early, observers are predicting a presidential run for her in 2015.
Destiny is written in Suu Kyi’s bloodline. Her father Aung San is revered as “the father of modern-day Burma,” establishing the modern Burmese army and negotiating for his country’s independence from Britain in 1947. After her father’s assassination that same year, her mother Khin Kyi took an increasingly prominent role in Burmese politics, becoming ambassador to India where Suu Kyi spent much of her youth. Returning to Burma in 1988 to care for her ailing mother, Suu Kyi founded the NLD but was put under house arrest soon after when the new military junta took power. She paid a painful price for political involvement, as henceforth she would live apart from her British scholar husband and their two sons, refusing to leave Burma when her husband was hospitalized for cancer, reasoning that she might not be allowed to reenter the country once she left it.
Who knew, then, in the last few years but especially in the bloody aftermath of the monks’ protest, that we would see the day when Suu Kyi would be free to campaign and even claim a seat in Burma’s parliament? Who knew that the all-powerful junta would relent and relax its oppressive grip and listen to the people’s clamor for freedom and democracy?
It is Easter in the land of Burma, and a new Easter in the life of The Lady. May the promise we glimpse today prove real and enduring, defying the skepticism and fear engendered by painful experience and bloody history.
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Looking for ways to observe Holy Week without either surrounding yourself with gloom or ignoring the season and basking in sun and surf? Here are ways to mark the passion and death of Christ by reflecting on politics, human rights and even climate change.
At 10 p.m. tonight, over Radio Balintataw at dzRH, there will be a theatrical presentation on the “Agony, Death and Resurrection of the Forest” translated by Prof. Tomas Ongoco. The presentation is in line with the “Fast for Mother Earth” initiated by Heherson Alvarez, Earthsavers founder and a former senator.
To close the national observance of Holy Week, a dialogue on “Hope and Caring” is scheduled on 6-7 p.m. on Easter Sunday, also on Radio Balintataw.
Yesterday, Holy Tuesday, a soap opera serial taken from the play “DNA” was concluded. The play is by the renowned playwright and president of the Cyprus Center of the International Theater Institute, Giorgos Neophytou. Translated into Filipino by Frank Rivera, “DNA” centers on the suffering of families searching for a “disappeared” member, “a tribute to those who fought for freedom as it presents also a compassionate portrait of the suffering widow and orphan” who are not sure whether their “desaparecido” is alive or dead, but who continue to search, yearn and hope.
“Radio Balintataw” producer-host Cecile G. Alvarez says “DNA” was selected for “its relevance in observing Araw ng Kagitingan and World Theater Week in conjunction with Semana Santa.”
“Balintataw” is made possible through partnership with MBC and support from Chowking, Shakeys, National Bookstore, Hewlett Packard, Air 21, Sony, San Mig Coffee, Globe Telecom, Tesoro’s and Papa John’s.