Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi

Author:Aung San Suu Kyi [Suu Kyi, Aung San]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101564004
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-07-14T04:00:00+00:00

II

The people of Burma view democracy not merely as a form of government but as an integrated social and ideological system based on respect for the individual. When asked why they feel so strong a need for democracy, the least political will answer: ‘We just want to be able to go about our own business freely and peacefully, not doing anybody any harm, just earning a decent living without anxiety and fear.’ In other words they want the basic human rights which would guarantee a tranquil, dignified existence free from want and fear. ‘Democracy songs’ articulated such longings: ‘I am not among the rice-eating robots … Everyone but everyone should be entitled to human rights.’ ‘We are not savage beasts of the jungle, we are all men with reason, it’s high time to stop the rule of armed intimidation: if every movement of dissent were settled by the gun, Burma would only be emptied of people.’

It was predictable that as soon as the issue of human rights became an integral part of the movement for democracy the official media should start ridiculing and condemning the whole concept of human rights, dubbing it a western artefact alien to traditional values. It was also ironic – Buddhism, the foundation of traditional Burmese culture, places the greatest value on man, who alone of all beings can achieve the supreme state of Buddhahood. Each man has in him the potential to realize the truth through his own will and endeavour and to help others to realize it. Human life therefore is infinitely precious. ‘Easier is it for a needle dropped from the abode of Brahma to meet a needle stuck in the earth than to be born as a human being.’

But despotic governments do not recognize the precious human component of the state, seeing its citizens only as a faceless, mindless – and helpless – mass to be manipulated at will. It is as though people were incidental to a nation rather than its very life-blood. Patriotism, which should be the vital love and care of a people for their land, is debased into a smokescreen of hysteria to hide the injustices of authoritarian rulers who define the interests of the state in terms of their own limited interests. The official creed is required to be accepted with an unquestioning faith more in keeping with orthodox tenets of the biblical religions which have held sway in the West than with the more liberal Buddhist attitude:

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