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Aung San Suu Kyi LeadershipAung San Suu Kyi Leadership

 

Aung San Suu Kyi (1945- )

 

Nobel peace prize winning fighter for democracy in her native Burma against its brutal military dictatorship.

She (pictured right) is the hero of millions worldwide including U2’s Bono, who wrote a song about her.

 

Why is she a great leader?

 

1. Principles

She has become a global icon because of her fervent belief in freedom and democracy for her people.Aung San Suu Kyi

She is inspired by her father. General Aung San (pictured right), the leader of Burma’s struggle for independence from Britain, who was assassinated in 1947.

 

 

2. Non-violent resistanceAung San Suu Kyi

Like Gandhi and Martin Luther King (pictured right), she

  • supports non- violent resistance (a hunger strike led to heart problems and her hair falling out)
  • believes that progress will only come from changing people’s hearts and minds.

 

3. Courage

Her Buddhist faith

  • kept her calm and courageous in opposing Burma’s dictatorship.
  • reinforces her belief in non-violent resistance (see point 3).

 

4. Sacrificeaung san suu kyi leadership

After studying at Oxford University, she married a lecturer there, Michael Aris (pictured right at their wedding), and raised two sons.

But she had to leave them behind in Britain after returning to Burma to nurse her sick mother and then leading the campaign for democracy.

She even didn’t visit her husband, when he was dying of cancer in 1999, because she feared she wouldn’t be allowed back into Burma.

She suffered imprisonment, solitary confinement and permanent house arrest in her fight for democracy.

 

Key quotes on freedom

“Real freedom is freedom from fear”.

 

Key quotes on success

You must try to do what you can. I believe in action.

 

Key quote on fear

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.

 

Key quote on women

The education and empowerment of women cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful life for all.

 

Key quote on empowerment

My very top priority is for people to understand that they have the power to change things themselves.

 

Key quote on change

The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation's development.
 

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