On Monday, while Myanmar democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi passes another day in solitary confinement in Naypyitaw Prison, Myanmar people both inside and outside of the country will be showering her with birthday wishes as turns 78.

She has been in detention since the coup in 2021, sentenced by a military council court to a total of 33 years in prison in 19 cases.

Although she has disappeared from public view, millions of her supporters around the world celebrate her birthdays in various ways.

“She is always in our heart; we never forget her,” Daw Khin Myo from Magwe Region’s Myaing Township told The Irrawaddy about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Daw Khin Myo, 44, said she often thinks back to the National League for Democracy (NLD)’s landslide victory in the 2015 general election, which occurred around the time her younger daughter was born in November of that year.

“I named my daughter Su(u) Po Po Aung” because our Mother Suu’s party won a landslide in the election,” Daw Khin Myo said.

The mother of two children said she voted for the NLD again in the 2020 election as she was satisfied with the performance of the NLD government in 2015 to 2020.

Protesters hold up signs demanding the release of detained Myanmar civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on Feb. 18, 2021. / AFP

The NLD won 920 (or 82 percent) of the total 1,117 elected seats up for grabs nationwide, while the military-backed main opposition party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, only managed a humiliating 71 seats, or 6.4 percent of elected seats. However, the Myanmar junta staged a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, alleging voter fraud and returning the country to military rule. President U Win Myint, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her ministers were jailed and the election results canceled.

Anti-coup protests were held across the nation, with a youth-led protest movement arising to challenge the military dictatorship. Aye Thiri, now 19, was too young to vote in 2020 but joined the anti-coup protests in the wake of the takeover.

“When I get the chance, I will vote for Mother Suu’s party,” Aye Thiri, who as a high school student rejected the regime-controlled education system after 2021, told The Irrawaddy.

Like Aye Thiri, many high school students have refused to accept education under the junta and choose to attend other vocational schools or online learning provided by the National Unity Government.

More than two years on since the military coup, the people’s revolution is speeding up across the nation, despite the forced disappearance of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party from Myanmar’s politics by the junta.

The Union Election Commission under the military council has disbanded the NLD and 39 other parties for failing to submit applications within the specified timeframe. NLD members have been killed, arrested and tortured by the military. Ninety-three members of the NLD have died at the hands of the junta and 1,200 others remained in detention as of May 2023.

However, the people still recognize Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a leader with influence over the public.

Yangon resident Daw Aye, 68, said that although she is kept busy making ends meet, she manages to follow any news about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as she wants to know if the leader she loves is OK.

“I love her. She is a person who worked for the country with strong determination,” Daw Aye told The Irrawaddy.

Having seen a sharp drop in living standards under the military council, Myanmar people say they want a return to the good governance the NLD government provided.

U Myint Ngwe, a 52-year-old taxi driver, said people are always eager to show their support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi despite the various forms of repression inflicted by the Myanmar military. Currently, the military council is targeting people who hold Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s picture, to the point of arresting and imprisoning them.

“If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were freed, the people would be so happy,” U Myint Ngwe told The Irrawaddy.

Under successive regimes, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had been under house arrest for 15 years of the past two decades. Currently, the country’s elected leader spends her days in solitary confinement in Naypyitaw Prison, a victim of the political jealousy of the military junta leaders.

Protesters hold signs with an image of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as they take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on Feb. 22, 2021. / AFP

Despite the current military dictator’s moves to prevent her from returning to politics, the junta cannot remove Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s political influence on the people, said Angella, a resistance member in Kachin State’s Katha Township. The 38-year-old Kachin fighter strongly believes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is an indispensable figure in Myanmar politics.

“Even after years of house arrest, she has never disappeared from the public eye. How can the military remove her from our hearts in such a short period?” Angella said, referring to the period since the coup.

Not only people from the Burmese heartland, but also those in ethnic areas are engaging in various campaigns to support the revolution as they mark her 78th birthday.

The Chin Defense Force (Mindat) recently announced a raffle related to the occasion. To commemorate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, those who buy tickets are in the running for one of three sets of clothes similar to the one worn by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when she visited Mindat in 2003.

“We always trust and respect her as a leader who stands up for the people,” a Chin Defense Force member from Paletwa Township told The Irrawaddy.

Ko Lin Lin, ‌an ethnic Shan person who serves as spokesperson for the Karenni Revolution Union (KRU) said people have a responsibility to follow the guidelines set by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who wants only good things for the country.

Resistance fighters are able to maintain their revolutionary spirit because of their faith in her, he added. An alliance of the KRU and Karenni armed forces is fighting against the Myanmar military in Kayah and southern Shan states.

“As she is in good health, we still hope that she can lead us in the post-revolution period,” Ko Lin Lin told The Irrawaddy.

However, some people have expressed disappointment at the attitudes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi expressed in the past about the Myanmar military. She once referred to it as her “father’s army” because her father, General Aung San, founded it.

“In our opinion, the military formed by her father was long gone when General Ne Win staged the coup in 1962. All the politicians know that the military institution can’t be reformed. However, we feel sad and angry with the attitude of Mother Suu, who had too close a bond with the military,” U Myat Sein, a 57-year-old Civil Disobedience Movement teacher in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, told The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi receives roses from a supporter during a campaign rally for the National League for Democracy in Kawhmu on the outskirts of Yangon on Oct. 24, 2015. / AFP

Despite the view that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi favored the Myanmar military, however, one of her government’s priorities was to keep the army out of Myanmar’s politics by amending the military-drafted constitution.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also lost the trust of the international community, which had championed her for decades, when she defended the generals over their ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. At the International Court of Justice in 2019, she led the country’s legal team to defend Myanmar against accusations by Gambia that the military violated the 1948 Genocide Convention with its “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine State, which caused more than 730,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.

Although there has been much condemnation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the international community over her stand on the Rohingya, the Myanmar people’s support has not diminished at all.

Ko Mya Aye, a former 88 Generation student leader and now a Federal Democratic Force leader, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be excluded if solutions are to be sought for Myanmar’s political problems.

Writing on Facebook, the prominent democracy activist, who is a Muslim, said, “We can’t ignore the fact that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is trusted and supported by the majority of Myanmar’s people. The wishes of the people must be heeded.”

No matter what, the people still rely on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and look forward to her return. Their birthday wishes for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has sacrificed for the country throughout her life, also prove how much the people love and believe in her.

Daw Aye lamented that being forced to live behind bars was a terrible situation for a 78-year-old woman.

“We want her to be free and spend the rest of her life peacefully and happily.”

Source:
courtesy of THE IRRAWADDY

by YUZANA

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