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I was invited by my Burmese friends to join in the celebration and prayer session at the Singapore Burmese Buddhist Temple for Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday. This is an excerpt of an article I wrote, partly inspired by the 64 for Suu campaign.

AS MAEMAE Myint entered a makeshift dining room at the back of the Burmese Buddhist Temple on Ah Hood road in Singapore, her eyes were drawn to the striking banner of Aung San Suu Kyi hanging proudly in the distance. “That is a very nice picture of our lady,” said the 34-year-old tour guide who was in town with her family from Yangon. “I am glad to be here today and be free to pray for her with everyone.”

She joined the crowd queuing up orderly for their free bowls of Mohinga or rice vermicelli in fish soup, who had all gathered for the same purpose –– pray for Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s imprisoned democracy leader who had just turned 64 under house arrest.

POWER OF THE POWERLESS

For 14 of the last 20 years, Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest on numerous occasions. Disallowed contact with the outside world, she would busy herself reading, meditating and playing the piano. In recent times, she has been permitted to meet foreign diplomats like United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

During this time, her efforts to bring democracy to Burma and sacrifice of her personal life and freedom won her support and recognition from all over the world, including the Nobel Peace Prize (1991) and Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (1990) which her sons accepted on her behalf.

Although she was offered the freedom to leave Burma on several occasions, Suu Kyi refused for fear of permanent exile. In March 1999, after several failed petitions to the Burmese authorities to visit his wife for the last time, Aris died of prostate cancer in London. The last of five times they had met since she began house arrest was at Christmas four years ago.

“Over the years her personal sacrifice and stoicism has stood in stark contrast to the opulent lifestyles of the military leadership,” said Dr Jason Abbott, an expert on Burma from Britain’s University of Surrey. “It is arguable that without Suu Kyi’s international fame and notoriety the regime would have long since dispensed with her.”

Her last public appearance was in 2007 at the gate of her home to receive blessings from Buddhist monks who were marching in support of human rights. In May this year, as her latest detention period was about to expire, the untimely intrusion of John Yettaw resulted otherwise.

CRACK OF DAWN?

WITH both the junta and Suu Kyi sticking firmly to their guns, it seems that the way forward would depend on how they react to persuasion from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a ten-nation organisation which Myanmar is part of and engagement from the west.

Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies thinks it is very clear that the priority of the Burmese government lies in its maintenance of political power.  “Letting Suu Kyi participate in the upcoming elections risks the regime losing power so they have every reason to continue to lock her up,” he said. “After all Burma has shown that it has been able to manage its domestic politics without any restraint all these years.”

Furthermore, the growing strength of Suu Kyi’s popularity over the last two decades of her house arrest and the lack of a succession in the NLD party has made her even more indispensable in Burma’s political struggle, he adds.

Others caution on tying the political crisis in Burma too closely with Suu Kyi alone and see another possible way out beyond hard sanctions and boycotts.

ASEAN and the west should instead explore new avenues of connection with a paranoid military leadership defined by a nationalistic worldview that “Burma is beset by opponents within and without”, said Dr Abbott. “International pressure and condemnation simply confirms this outlook and even ironically strengthening their obstinacy.”

Yettaw’s release could be a prelude to a new era of politics between Burma and the west. The fact that US Senator Jim Webb was allowed to meet Suu Kyi after UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was denied a similar visit earlier is icing on the cake.

The most significant development from this bizarre episode, perhaps, came from none other than the Lady herself. Reports of Suu Kyi softening her stance towards the tourism boycott and sanctions are emerging for the first time in many years, and could well be pivotal in steering Burma into brighter days.