Saturday, June 30, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Freedom from Fear: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/freedom-from-fear-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi/
Just as chanda-gati, when not the result of sheer avarice, can be caused by fear of want or fear of losing the goodwill of those one loves, so fear of being surpassed, humiliated or injured in some way can provide the impetus for ill will. And it would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the truth unfettered by fear. With so close a relationship between fear and corruption it is little wonder that in any society where fear is rife corruption in all forms becomes deeply entrenched.
Public dissatisfaction with economic hardships has been seen as the chief cause of the movement for democracy in Burma, sparked off by the student demonstrations 1988. It is true that years of incoherent policies, inept official measures, burgeoning inflation and falling real income had turned the country into an economic shambles. But it was more than the difficulties of eking out a barely acceptable standard of living that had eroded the patience of a traditionally good-natured, quiescent people – it was also the humiliation of a way of life disfigured by corruption and fear. The students were protesting not just against the death of their comrades but against the denial of their right to life by a totalitarian regime which deprived the present of meaningfulness and held out no hope for the future. And because the students’ protests articulated the frustrations of the people at large, the demonstrations quickly grew into a nationwide movement. Some of its keenest supporters were businessmen who had developed the skills and the contacts necessary not only to survive but to prosper within the system. But their affluence offered them no genuine sense of security or fulfilment, and they could not but see that if they and their fellow citizens, regardless of economic status, were to achieve a worthwhile existence, an accountable administration was at least a necessary if not a sufficient condition. The people of Burma had wearied of a precarious state of passive apprehension where they were ‘as water in the cupped hands’ of the powers that be.
Emerald cool we may be
As water in cupped hands
But oh that we might be
As splinters of glass
In cupped hands.
Glass splinters, the smallest with its sharp, glinting power to defend itself against hands that try to crush, could be seen as a vivid symbol of the spark of courage that is an essential attribute of those who would free themselves from the grip of oppression. Bogyoke Aung San regarded himself as a revolutionary and searched tirelessly for answers to the problems that beset Burma during her times of trial. He exhorted the people to develop courage: ‘Don’t just depend on the courage and intrepidity of others. Each and every one of you must make sacrifices to become a hero possessed of courage and intrepidity. Then only shall we all be able to enjoy true freedom.’
The effort necessary to remain uncorrupted in an environment where fear is an integral part of everyday existence is not immediately apparent to those fortunate enough to live in states governed by the rule of law. Just laws do not merely prevent corruption by meting out impartial punishment to offenders. They also help to create a society in which people can fulfil the basic requirements necessary for the preservation of human dignity without recourse to corrupt practices. Where there are no such laws, the burden of upholding the principles of justice and common decency falls on the ordinary people. It is the cumulative effect on their sustained effort and steady endurance which will change a nation where reason and conscience are warped by fear into one where legal rules exist to promote man’s desire for harmony and justice while restraining the less desirable destructive traits in his nature.
In an age when immense technological advances have created lethal weapons which could be, and are, used by the powerful and the unprincipled to dominate the weak and the helpless, there is a compelling need for a closer relationship between politics and ethics at both the national and international levels. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations proclaims that ‘every individual and every organ of society’ should strive to promote the basic rights and freedoms to which all human beings regardless of race, nationality or religion are entitled. But as long as there are governments whose authority is founded on coercion rather than on the mandate of the people, and interest groups which place short-term profits above long-term peace and prosperity, concerted international action to protect and promote human rights will remain at best a partially realized struggle. There will continue to be arenas of struggle where victims of oppression have to draw on their own inner resources to defend their inalienable rights as members of the human family.
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. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance and fear.
Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.
Always one to practise what he preached, Aung San himself constantly demonstrated courage – not just the physical sort but the kind that enabled him to speak the truth, to stand by his word, to accept criticism, to admit his faults, to correct his mistakes, to respect the opposition, to parley with the enemy and to let people be the judge of his worthiness as a leader. It is for such moral courage that he will always be loved and respected in Burma – not merely as a warrior hero but as the inspiration and conscience of the nation. The words used by Jawaharlal Nehru to describe Mahatma Gandhi could well be applied to Aung San:
‘The essence of his teaching was fearlessness and truth, and action allied to these, always keeping the welfare of the masses in view.’
Gandhi, that great apostle of non-violence, and Aung San, the founder of a national army, were very different personalities, but as there is an inevitable sameness about the challenges of authoritarian rule anywhere at any time, so there is a similarity in the intrinsic qualities of those who rise up to meet the challenge. Nehru, who considered the instillation of courage in the people of India one of Gandhi’s greatest achievements, was a political modernist, but as he assessed the needs for a twentieth-century movement for independence, he found himself looking back to the philosophy of ancient India: ‘The greatest gift for an individual or a nation … was abhaya, fearlessness, not merely bodily courage but absence of fear from the mind.’
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’ – grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.
Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.
The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense that despite all setbacks the condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute. At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments. It is man’s vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power.
Freedom from Fear: Aung San Suu Kyi (1990)
Freedom from Fear: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Posted on January 3, 2009 by sanooaung
Freedom from Fear: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
We
live in interesting times. A climate of fear allows the corrupt and the
cruel to continue with their ways of repression and oppression.
Myanmar/Burmese need to take up our cudgels, rise up and break the chains of fear which bind us. Revolutionise our minds! Free the spirit!
Formerly beleaguered past President
of the Malaysian Bar (2005-07), Yeo Yang Poh, thinks we should read this
(again, for some) as we start the year 2009. Unusually, he is right.
Written by Aung San Suu Kyi and taken from here.
Struggle = never knowing when to give up, to never say die.
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. Most Burmese
are familiar with the four a-gati, the four kinds of corruption. Chanda-gati, corruption induced by desire, is deviation from the right path in pursuit of bribes or for the sake of those one loves. Dosa-gati is taking the wrong path to spite those against whom one bears ill will, and moga-gati is aberration due to ignorance. But perhaps the worst of the four is bhaya-gati, for not only does bhaya,
fear, stifle and slowly destroy all sense of right and wrong, it so
often lies at the root of the other three kinds of corruption.
Just as chanda-gati, when not the result of sheer avarice, can be caused by fear of want or fear of losing the goodwill of those one loves, so fear of being surpassed, humiliated or injured in some way can provide the impetus for ill will. And it would be difficult to dispel ignorance unless there is freedom to pursue the truth unfettered by fear. With so close a relationship between fear and corruption it is little wonder that in any society where fear is rife corruption in all forms becomes deeply entrenched.
Public dissatisfaction with economic hardships has been seen as the chief cause of the movement for democracy in Burma, sparked off by the student demonstrations 1988. It is true that years of incoherent policies, inept official measures, burgeoning inflation and falling real income had turned the country into an economic shambles. But it was more than the difficulties of eking out a barely acceptable standard of living that had eroded the patience of a traditionally good-natured, quiescent people – it was also the humiliation of a way of life disfigured by corruption and fear. The students were protesting not just against the death of their comrades but against the denial of their right to life by a totalitarian regime which deprived the present of meaningfulness and held out no hope for the future. And because the students’ protests articulated the frustrations of the people at large, the demonstrations quickly grew into a nationwide movement. Some of its keenest supporters were businessmen who had developed the skills and the contacts necessary not only to survive but to prosper within the system. But their affluence offered them no genuine sense of security or fulfilment, and they could not but see that if they and their fellow citizens, regardless of economic status, were to achieve a worthwhile existence, an accountable administration was at least a necessary if not a sufficient condition. The people of Burma had wearied of a precarious state of passive apprehension where they were ‘as water in the cupped hands’ of the powers that be.
Emerald cool we may be
As water in cupped hands
But oh that we might be
As splinters of glass
In cupped hands.
Glass splinters, the smallest with its sharp, glinting power to defend itself against hands that try to crush, could be seen as a vivid symbol of the spark of courage that is an essential attribute of those who would free themselves from the grip of oppression. Bogyoke Aung San regarded himself as a revolutionary and searched tirelessly for answers to the problems that beset Burma during her times of trial. He exhorted the people to develop courage: ‘Don’t just depend on the courage and intrepidity of others. Each and every one of you must make sacrifices to become a hero possessed of courage and intrepidity. Then only shall we all be able to enjoy true freedom.’
The effort necessary to remain uncorrupted in an environment where fear is an integral part of everyday existence is not immediately apparent to those fortunate enough to live in states governed by the rule of law. Just laws do not merely prevent corruption by meting out impartial punishment to offenders. They also help to create a society in which people can fulfil the basic requirements necessary for the preservation of human dignity without recourse to corrupt practices. Where there are no such laws, the burden of upholding the principles of justice and common decency falls on the ordinary people. It is the cumulative effect on their sustained effort and steady endurance which will change a nation where reason and conscience are warped by fear into one where legal rules exist to promote man’s desire for harmony and justice while restraining the less desirable destructive traits in his nature.
In an age when immense technological advances have created lethal weapons which could be, and are, used by the powerful and the unprincipled to dominate the weak and the helpless, there is a compelling need for a closer relationship between politics and ethics at both the national and international levels. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations proclaims that ‘every individual and every organ of society’ should strive to promote the basic rights and freedoms to which all human beings regardless of race, nationality or religion are entitled. But as long as there are governments whose authority is founded on coercion rather than on the mandate of the people, and interest groups which place short-term profits above long-term peace and prosperity, concerted international action to protect and promote human rights will remain at best a partially realized struggle. There will continue to be arenas of struggle where victims of oppression have to draw on their own inner resources to defend their inalienable rights as members of the human family.
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. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance and fear.
Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.
Always one to practise what he preached, Aung San himself constantly demonstrated courage – not just the physical sort but the kind that enabled him to speak the truth, to stand by his word, to accept criticism, to admit his faults, to correct his mistakes, to respect the opposition, to parley with the enemy and to let people be the judge of his worthiness as a leader. It is for such moral courage that he will always be loved and respected in Burma – not merely as a warrior hero but as the inspiration and conscience of the nation. The words used by Jawaharlal Nehru to describe Mahatma Gandhi could well be applied to Aung San:
‘The essence of his teaching was fearlessness and truth, and action allied to these, always keeping the welfare of the masses in view.’
Gandhi, that great apostle of non-violence, and Aung San, the founder of a national army, were very different personalities, but as there is an inevitable sameness about the challenges of authoritarian rule anywhere at any time, so there is a similarity in the intrinsic qualities of those who rise up to meet the challenge. Nehru, who considered the instillation of courage in the people of India one of Gandhi’s greatest achievements, was a political modernist, but as he assessed the needs for a twentieth-century movement for independence, he found himself looking back to the philosophy of ancient India: ‘The greatest gift for an individual or a nation … was abhaya, fearlessness, not merely bodily courage but absence of fear from the mind.’
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’ – grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.
Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.
The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense that despite all setbacks the condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute. At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments. It is man’s vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power.
Freedom from Fear: Aung San Suu Kyi (1990)
Nobel Lecture by Aung San Suu Ky
Nobel Lecture
Nobel Lecture by Aung San Suu Kyi, Oslo, 16 June, 2012
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Excellencies, Distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Dear Friends,Long years ago, sometimes it seems many lives ago, I was at Oxford listening to the radio programme Desert Island Discs with my young son Alexander. It was a well-known programme (for all I know it still continues) on which famous people from all walks of life were invited to talk about the eight discs, the one book beside the bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, and the one luxury item they would wish to have with them were they to be marooned on a desert island. At the end of the programme, which we had both enjoyed, Alexander asked me if I thought I might ever be invited to speak on Desert Island Discs. “Why not?” I responded lightly. Since he knew that in general only celebrities took part in the programme he proceeded to ask, with genuine interest, for what reason I thought I might be invited. I considered this for a moment and then answered: “Perhaps because I’d have won the Nobel Prize for literature,” and we both laughed. The prospect seemed pleasant but hardly probable.
(I cannot now remember why I gave that answer, perhaps because I had recently read a book by a Nobel Laureate or perhaps because the Desert Island celebrity of that day had been a famous writer.)
In 1989, when my late husband Michael Aris came to see me during my first term of house arrest, he told me that a friend, John Finnis, had nominated me for the Nobel Peace Prize. This time also I laughed. For an instant Michael looked amazed, then he realized why I was amused. The Nobel Peace Prize? A pleasant prospect, but quite improbable! So how did I feel when I was actually awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace? The question has been put to me many times and this is surely the most appropriate occasion on which to examine what the Nobel Prize means to me and what peace means to me.
As I have said repeatedly in many an interview, I heard the news that I had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on the radio one evening. It did not altogether come as a surprise because I had been mentioned as one of the frontrunners for the prize in a number of broadcasts during the previous week. While drafting this lecture, I have tried very hard to remember what my immediate reaction to the announcement of the award had been. I think, I can no longer be sure, it was something like: “Oh, so they’ve decided to give it to me.” It did not seem quite real because in a sense I did not feel myself to be quite real at that time.
Often during my days of house arrest it felt as though I were no longer a part of the real world. There was the house which was my world, there was the world of others who also were not free but who were together in prison as a community, and there was the world of the free; each was a different planet pursuing its own separate course in an indifferent universe. What the Nobel Peace Prize did was to draw me once again into the world of other human beings outside the isolated area in which I lived, to restore a sense of reality to me. This did not happen instantly, of course, but as the days and months went by and news of reactions to the award came over the airwaves, I began to understand the significance of the Nobel Prize. It had made me real once again; it had drawn me back into the wider human community. And what was more important, the Nobel Prize had drawn the attention of the world to the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. We were not going to be forgotten.
To be forgotten. The French say that to part is to die a little. To be forgotten too is to die a little. It is to lose some of the links that anchor us to the rest of humanity. When I met Burmese migrant workers and refugees during my recent visit to Thailand, many cried out: “Don’t forget us!” They meant: “don’t forget our plight, don’t forget to do what you can to help us, don’t forget we also belong to your world.” When the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to me they were recognizing that the oppressed and the isolated in Burma were also a part of the world, they were recognizing the oneness of humanity. So for me receiving the Nobel Peace Prize means personally extending my concerns for democracy and human rights beyond national borders. The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart.
The Burmese concept of peace can be explained as the happiness arising from the cessation of factors that militate against the harmonious and the wholesome. The word nyein-chan translates literally as the beneficial coolness that comes when a fire is extinguished. Fires of suffering and strife are raging around the world. In my own country, hostilities have not ceased in the far north; to the west, communal violence resulting in arson and murder were taking place just several days before I started out on the journey that has brought me here today. News of atrocities in other reaches of the earth abound. Reports of hunger, disease, displacement, joblessness, poverty, injustice, discrimination, prejudice, bigotry; these are our daily fare. Everywhere there are negative forces eating away at the foundations of peace. Everywhere can be found thoughtless dissipation of material and human resources that are necessary for the conservation of harmony and happiness in our world.
The First World War represented a terrifying waste of youth and potential, a cruel squandering of the positive forces of our planet. The poetry of that era has a special significance for me because I first read it at a time when I was the same age as many of those young men who had to face the prospect of withering before they had barely blossomed. A young American fighting with the French Foreign Legion wrote before he was killed in action in 1916 that he would meet his death: “at some disputed barricade;” “on some scarred slope of battered hill;” “at midnight in some flaming town.” Youth and love and life perishing forever in senseless attempts to capture nameless, unremembered places. And for what? Nearly a century on, we have yet to find a satisfactory answer.
Are we not still guilty, if to a less violent degree, of recklessness, of improvidence with regard to our future and our humanity? War is not the only arena where peace is done to death. Wherever suffering is ignored, there will be the seeds of conflict, for suffering degrades and embitters and enrages.
A positive aspect of living in isolation was that I had ample time in which to ruminate over the meaning of words and precepts that I had known and accepted all my life. As a Buddhist, I had heard about dukha, generally translated as suffering, since I was a small child. Almost on a daily basis elderly, and sometimes not so elderly, people around me would murmur “dukha, dukha” when they suffered from aches and pains or when they met with some small, annoying mishaps. However, it was only during my years of house arrest that I got around to investigating the nature of the six great dukha. These are: to be conceived, to age, to sicken, to die, to be parted from those one loves, to be forced to live in propinquity with those one does not love. I examined each of the six great sufferings, not in a religious context but in the context of our ordinary, everyday lives. If suffering were an unavoidable part of our existence, we should try to alleviate it as far as possible in practical, earthly ways. I mulled over the effectiveness of ante- and post-natal programmes and mother and childcare; of adequate facilities for the aging population; of comprehensive health services; of compassionate nursing and hospices. I was particularly intrigued by the last two kinds of suffering: to be parted from those one loves and to be forced to live in propinquity with those one does not love. What experiences might our Lord Buddha have undergone in his own life that he had included these two states among the great sufferings? I thought of prisoners and refugees, of migrant workers and victims of human trafficking, of that great mass of the uprooted of the earth who have been torn away from their homes, parted from families and friends, forced to live out their lives among strangers who are not always welcoming.
We are fortunate to be living in an age when social welfare and humanitarian assistance are recognized not only as desirable but necessary. I am fortunate to be living in an age when the fate of prisoners of conscience anywhere has become the concern of peoples everywhere, an age when democracy and human rights are widely, even if not universally, accepted as the birthright of all. How often during my years under house arrest have I drawn strength from my favourite passages in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
……. disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspirations of the common people,
…… it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law . . .
If I am asked why I am fighting for human rights in Burma the above passages will provide the answer. If I am asked why I am fighting for democracy in Burma, it is because I believe that democratic institutions and practices are necessary for the guarantee of human rights.
Over the past year there have been signs that the endeavours of those who believe in democracy and human rights are beginning to bear fruit in Burma. There have been changes in a positive direction; steps towards democratization have been taken. If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith. Without faith in the future, without the conviction that democratic values and fundamental human rights are not only necessary but possible for our society, our movement could not have been sustained throughout the destroying years. Some of our warriors fell at their post, some deserted us, but a dedicated core remained strong and committed. At times when I think of the years that have passed, I am amazed that so many remained staunch under the most trying circumstances. Their faith in our cause is not blind; it is based on a clear-eyed assessment of their own powers of endurance and a profound respect for the aspirations of our people.
It is because of recent changes in my country that I am with you today; and these changes have come about because of you and other lovers of freedom and justice who contributed towards a global awareness of our situation. Before continuing to speak of my country, may I speak out for our prisoners of conscience. There still remain such prisoners in Burma. It is to be feared that because the best known detainees have been released, the remainder, the unknown ones, will be forgotten. I am standing here because I was once a prisoner of conscience. As you look at me and listen to me, please remember the often repeated truth that one prisoner of conscience is one too many. Those who have not yet been freed, those who have not yet been given access to the benefits of justice in my country number much more than one. Please remember them and do whatever is possible to effect their earliest, unconditional release.
Burma is a country of many ethnic nationalities and faith in its future can be founded only on a true spirit of union. Since we achieved independence in 1948, there never has been a time when we could claim the whole country was at peace. We have not been able to develop the trust and understanding necessary to remove causes of conflict. Hopes were raised by ceasefires that were maintained from the early 1990s until 2010 when these broke down over the course of a few months. One unconsidered move can be enough to remove long-standing ceasefires. In recent months, negotiations between the government and ethnic nationality forces have been making progress. We hope that ceasefire agreements will lead to political settlements founded on the aspirations of the peoples, and the spirit of union.
My party, the National League for Democracy, and I stand ready and willing to play any role in the process of national reconciliation. The reform measures that were put into motion by President U Thein Sein’s government can be sustained only with the intelligent cooperation of all internal forces: the military, our ethnic nationalities, political parties, the media, civil society organizations, the business community and, most important of all, the general public. We can say that reform is effective only if the lives of the people are improved and in this regard, the international community has a vital role to play. Development and humanitarian aid, bi-lateral agreements and investments should be coordinated and calibrated to ensure that these will promote social, political and economic growth that is balanced and sustainable. The potential of our country is enormous. This should be nurtured and developed to create not just a more prosperous but also a more harmonious, democratic society where our people can live in peace, security and freedom.
The peace of our world is indivisible. As long as negative forces are getting the better of positive forces anywhere, we are all at risk. It may be questioned whether all negative forces could ever be removed. The simple answer is: “No!” It is in human nature to contain both the positive and the negative. However, it is also within human capability to work to reinforce the positive and to minimize or neutralize the negative. Absolute peace in our world is an unattainable goal. But it is one towards which we must continue to journey, our eyes fixed on it as a traveller in a desert fixes his eyes on the one guiding star that will lead him to salvation. Even if we do not achieve perfect peace on earth, because perfect peace is not of this earth, common endeavours to gain peace will unite individuals and nations in trust and friendship and help to make our human community safer and kinder.
I used the word ‘kinder’ after careful deliberation; I might say the careful deliberation of many years. Of the sweets of adversity, and let me say that these are not numerous, I have found the sweetest, the most precious of all, is the lesson I learnt on the value of kindness. Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world. To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people. Norway has shown exemplary kindness in providing a home for the displaced of the earth, offering sanctuary to those who have been cut loose from the moorings of security and freedom in their native lands.
There are refugees in all parts of the world. When I was at the Maela refugee camp in Thailand recently, I met dedicated people who were striving daily to make the lives of the inmates as free from hardship as possible. They spoke of their concern over ‘donor fatigue,’ which could also translate as ‘compassion fatigue.’ ‘Donor fatigue’ expresses itself precisely in the reduction of funding. ‘Compassion fatigue’ expresses itself less obviously in the reduction of concern. One is the consequence of the other. Can we afford to indulge in compassion fatigue? Is the cost of meeting the needs of refugees greater than the cost that would be consequent on turning an indifferent, if not a blind, eye on their suffering? I appeal to donors the world over to fulfill the needs of these people who are in search, often it must seem to them a vain search, of refuge.
At Maela, I had valuable discussions with Thai officials responsible for the administration of Tak province where this and several other camps are situated. They acquainted me with some of the more serious problems related to refugee camps: violation of forestry laws, illegal drug use, home brewed spirits, the problems of controlling malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever and cholera. The concerns of the administration are as legitimate as the concerns of the refugees. Host countries also deserve consideration and practical help in coping with the difficulties related to their responsibilities.
Ultimately our aim should be to create a world free from the displaced, the homeless and the hopeless, a world of which each and every corner is a true sanctuary where the inhabitants will have the freedom and the capacity to live in peace. Every thought, every word, and every action that adds to the positive and the wholesome is a contribution to peace. Each and every one of us is capable of making such a contribution. Let us join hands to try to create a peaceful world where we can sleep in security and wake in happiness.
The Nobel Committee concluded its statement of 14 October 1991 with the words: “In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize ... to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour this woman for her unflagging efforts and to show its support for the many people throughout the world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by peaceful means.” When I joined the democracy movement in Burma it never occurred to me that I might ever be the recipient of any prize or honour. The prize we were working for was a free, secure and just society where our people might be able to realize their full potential. The honour lay in our endeavour. History had given us the opportunity to give of our best for a cause in which we believed. When the Nobel Committee chose to honour me, the road I had chosen of my own free will became a less lonely path to follow. For this I thank the Committee, the people of Norway and peoples all over the world whose support has strengthened my faith in the common quest for peace. Thank you.
Aung San Suu Kiy's Nobel Lecture on 16-6-2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.nobelprize.org/1991: Acceptance Speech delivered on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi ...
3 days ago – 1991: Acceptance Speech delivered on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi. thenobelprize ... 1991: Aung San Suu Kyi Receives the Nobel Prize 1:25 ...Monday, June 11, 2012
访问李旺陽;悼念李旺陽
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lClvj9J5m7E&feature=related
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Freedom v.s. Forgiving
Dear Red,
Before we went to your place that early morning, I had a meditation led by FORGIVING PROCESS. It is a DVD of Chris Howard, one of my mentors and NLP gurus. I wrote my refection and brought with me to the bus stop, intending to share and discuss in our gathering.
Your favorite interpretation on freedom reminds me of my thoughts - Forgiving vs. freedom:
Forgiving is to either to let the relationships that don't serve us any longer GO or to see it in a New way:
Chris told us a story about a father whose son died for some years. The father had been having recurring nightmares, seeing his son standing on a top of mountain, carrying two heavy buckets sadly. The father didn't dare to speak with his son for the first three days. The last day, he finally spoke to him, "Son, why are you still here? " His son replied, it is the two buckets filled with your tears stopping me move."
The profound story will linger in my brain time and time again for years to come. I realized forgiving oneself is ultimately to set ourselves free.
FORGIVING PROCESS is to cut the tie with damaging issues - issues with enemy, parents, friends, partners and anyone, even with "unhappy” jobs, careers, study and our diseases.
Forgiving is not to give up. Instead, it is to unload any negative, destructive emotions so as to move forward; to charge oneself with positive, constructive energy and see old relationship with a completely new perspective.
It is a process to set us free from our own prison and seek for new opportunities, resources, t move forward for happiness. Forgiving others is ultimately to forgive ourselves.
With forgiving, we can find our potential is beyond any certain limit - "zero limitation"
After Zero Limitaton Talk by Wah Shan, every night, just before I go to my dreamland, I imagine myself in a flying balloon drifting higher and higher, looking down, I find myself, my family and everything, even the world, they are So small...thousands of rivers running to the seas...so many ways open to me...
When I say repeatedly to myself:
I am sorry;
I love you;
I thank you.
In minutes, my pains in my body, stress seems to vanish;
I feel deeply relaxed and I fall in asleep, drifting to a world of unlimited imaginations.
That is one of my feelings of freedom...
If we really want to be loved, to love truly, to be happy, learn to forgive.
Before we went to your place that early morning, I had a meditation led by FORGIVING PROCESS. It is a DVD of Chris Howard, one of my mentors and NLP gurus. I wrote my refection and brought with me to the bus stop, intending to share and discuss in our gathering.
Your favorite interpretation on freedom reminds me of my thoughts - Forgiving vs. freedom:
Forgiving is to either to let the relationships that don't serve us any longer GO or to see it in a New way:
Chris told us a story about a father whose son died for some years. The father had been having recurring nightmares, seeing his son standing on a top of mountain, carrying two heavy buckets sadly. The father didn't dare to speak with his son for the first three days. The last day, he finally spoke to him, "Son, why are you still here? " His son replied, it is the two buckets filled with your tears stopping me move."
The profound story will linger in my brain time and time again for years to come. I realized forgiving oneself is ultimately to set ourselves free.
FORGIVING PROCESS is to cut the tie with damaging issues - issues with enemy, parents, friends, partners and anyone, even with "unhappy” jobs, careers, study and our diseases.
Forgiving is not to give up. Instead, it is to unload any negative, destructive emotions so as to move forward; to charge oneself with positive, constructive energy and see old relationship with a completely new perspective.
It is a process to set us free from our own prison and seek for new opportunities, resources, t move forward for happiness. Forgiving others is ultimately to forgive ourselves.
With forgiving, we can find our potential is beyond any certain limit - "zero limitation"
After Zero Limitaton Talk by Wah Shan, every night, just before I go to my dreamland, I imagine myself in a flying balloon drifting higher and higher, looking down, I find myself, my family and everything, even the world, they are So small...thousands of rivers running to the seas...so many ways open to me...
When I say repeatedly to myself:
I am sorry;
I love you;
I thank you.
In minutes, my pains in my body, stress seems to vanish;
I feel deeply relaxed and I fall in asleep, drifting to a world of unlimited imaginations.
That is one of my feelings of freedom...
If we really want to be loved, to love truly, to be happy, learn to forgive.
7-6-2012
http://powradhwani.blogspot.hk/2012/01/gods-plan-for-happy-marriage-by-c.htmlWednesday, June 6, 2012
FREEDOM IS...
Talk with Professor Chan, I found one cannot control the events, but can control their response, mindset, emotion. It is our response, mindset, emotion that design our destiny, not events.
How to set ourselves free? Embarrassing challenges and difficulties is the only way to be free.
6-6-2012
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| A HA, I got it. |
How to set ourselves free? Embarrassing challenges and difficulties is the only way to be free.
6-6-2012
A day with Professor Red Chan
Dear Red,
This visit will be an unforgettable experience in our lives .
Eugene has never been so relaxed to share his inner world with you and me.
I was deeply moved by your passion and wonderful communication skills,
setting a comfortable environment for my son searching for his soul and guiding him to taste a deep self-reflection time.
Your new flat and your design impressed us so much as well, comfy, practical, and the view is absolutely stunning, night view must be even more spectacular.
We thank you again for sharing with us your childhood and
remarkable experience. I found Eugene got lots of resonance from your
experience, partly because of our parents’ faults and the system. Fortunately
my childhood was much happier and carefree to some extent.
I started to believe my son will grow up to be a happy, compassionate
and responsible person when taking more practice with NLP and “Dreams Possible”
tools.
We are grateful for your help and your time, indeed.
Donna Thanks for reminding me about taking action and leading. I forget that sometimes.
Eugene
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Seaching for ourselves
The seed of Greatness – session one 19-5-2012
Dear B,
I found you are a very expressive guy when you are in group situations.
Last night was a breakthrough for me to know you better. First, I am amazed to hear you express your feelings about your reflection on Dr Lin’s first talk on Sees of Greatness. That is the fundamental value of a family is LOVE –parents’ unconditional love to children is the most important assets to them. I couldn’t agree more
I am grateful to know the conversation on Google
Chat in last several months were a crucial support to you and the only and best
bridge between our hearts. Every day I was waiting for you to say Hi, Mom, I am
fine or I can manage and I still remember that you said you were facing so many
challenges and you were accustomed yourself to them, despite the toughness. At
that time, I was moved to tear up. Father was happy to know that as well.
The chats also became a channel for you to release
your emotion, sharing your learning and priceless experiences. If you could elaborate
a bit clearly, it would have been much easier for me to understand your status
instead creating confusion and unnecessary worry and fear, esp. without emails
and tel to understand the whole situations sometimes. So you can imagine being
the listener and receiver, so as to try the best English or even Chinese to
present your ideas. Presentation skills are to show your ability of convincing others
and influence others, but in the first place to minimize communication
troubles.
You as our son and our best friend, me as your mother and friend and listener, we will always support each other on the journey to grow up at different phrases of life.
I realized that physical ageing is inevitable but
youth mindset is eternal if we are curious like Andrew, care for others like Mother
Teresa; relentlessly dream big and live up with dreams like Steve Jobs.
Regarding the special test that I have never heard before, I will keep an open mind to dig up its mechanism and to discover myself although I also have doubt in it. That is why I would try myself to find out. But I have learnt from real experiences after the test and changes bring to them, free released and much relaxed, easier during study and work. It indicates the shining areas that we can develop with full potential and weak areas that need adjustments so that we can shape our character for better.
Hopefully, it can cut way shorter to find one-self
and meaning of life by treasuring our gift talents that everyone has.
I have leant various theories about human
character…, this is completely different, without any outside factors’ impact. Intriguing.
I will keep a peaceful mind to face myself in the assessment, accept myself, thank myself and change for better. It is a wonderful experience to see oneself if we stand from an objective prospective. I am sure it will show I am not alone in terms of weakness and I am unique in terms of myself as a human being.
Everyone can be a diamond if it is given chance to polish, to shine. Where is the chance, it is everywhere if we keep aware.
Stay hungry, stay foolish. (Steve Jobs)
Stay open-minded, thus being able to stay young. (
my finding)
B,
Your improvement in maturity, personality, self-management
and social experience from Singapore are impressive. We all agree it was a
turning point in your life.
The thing is you start to put yourself in others’ shoes. Then you will keep many troubles from you and find inner peace by balancing your mind.
For sharing of my findings:
All negative emotions are rooted from fear, i including
worry of failure, hatred and jealousy. Ironically, the greatest fear is fear
itself.
Why fearful? There is an insufficiency in knowledge, awareness of oneself and thus less confidence in oneself. . . But all can be learned if we want to expand our awareness…
The mightiest energy is not physical but psychological
– that is Grace, Love and Gratitude.
A important friend from Dreams Possible
-------- Forwarded message ----------
From: donna wong
Date: Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 12:21 AM
Subject: Red Chan (大學副教授、牛津大學博士、生命教練)
To: Eugene
B,
http://ln.academia.edu/RedChan
From Red angle, she sees your issue as a gift of life from the heaven. Most people didn't choose a harder way to do projects but only manage to get better marks in U (She has been in U as a professor for many years in UK and HK) but you insisted to challenge yourself DESPITE THE RISK. This was very rare and she appreciated your courage SO MUCH and hopes to have such students in her life. Your requirement to yourself is much higher than normal students.
I should have given you such trust and recognition, but I didn't until now. Terribly sorry. I should not have given your too much expectation which means to give myself too much expectation and pressure, she said to me. This shows I have not enough confidence in you and myself. Her words were very interesting and reflecting. I never thought about this before even though I believed learned so much already.
She said the most important thing is you must have learned much from the independently trying, you will be finding more ways and will be more flexible in future for sure. The results were a tiny thing in whole life, really not too much. But your experiences such as to be an exchange student and to playing Bungee jump without telling us first, all are turning points in your life. If you have courage to try a hard one, you have resources to make it better.
Red has written some books and a life coach as well. She just asked you to write to her and call her ANYTIME, she will be very happy to know you and reply to you. She will very happy to be your friend. You will know her when you are back.
I found in life I really need such coach. And all her help is for free.
Professor Red Chan'sTel: 852-60121827
and her email: red.chan@sant.oxon.org
Good night,
p.s. Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.
Mom
_______________________________________________________________________From: donna wong
Date: Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 12:21 AM
Subject: Red Chan (大學副教授、牛津大學博士、生命教練)
To: Eugene
B,
http://ln.academia.edu/RedChan
From Red angle, she sees your issue as a gift of life from the heaven. Most people didn't choose a harder way to do projects but only manage to get better marks in U (She has been in U as a professor for many years in UK and HK) but you insisted to challenge yourself DESPITE THE RISK. This was very rare and she appreciated your courage SO MUCH and hopes to have such students in her life. Your requirement to yourself is much higher than normal students.
I should have given you such trust and recognition, but I didn't until now. Terribly sorry. I should not have given your too much expectation which means to give myself too much expectation and pressure, she said to me. This shows I have not enough confidence in you and myself. Her words were very interesting and reflecting. I never thought about this before even though I believed learned so much already.
She said the most important thing is you must have learned much from the independently trying, you will be finding more ways and will be more flexible in future for sure. The results were a tiny thing in whole life, really not too much. But your experiences such as to be an exchange student and to playing Bungee jump without telling us first, all are turning points in your life. If you have courage to try a hard one, you have resources to make it better.
Red has written some books and a life coach as well. She just asked you to write to her and call her ANYTIME, she will be very happy to know you and reply to you. She will very happy to be your friend. You will know her when you are back.
I found in life I really need such coach. And all her help is for free.
Professor Red Chan'sTel: 852-60121827
and her email: red.chan@sant.oxon.org
Good night,
p.s. Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.
Mom
31-5-2012
Dear Red,
Thanks so much for your appreciation and invitation. It will be a very pleasant, relaxed time for sure...
Maybe, my worry at that moment was a bit from my own imagination You are right. Eugene should have ability to face his own issues. We as parents are happy to find his emotion control is better from the exchange, growing up to a responsible guy. Now he is going to do the FYP. Their group chose an adviser, who is famous for his stringiness, nevertheless, he is relentless for self improvement. The group care much for interesting project, learning rather for marks.
I found DP is a place that we can share and support with heart and soul, which has not felt yet from else anywhere although I have learned many courses in the past ten years.
I told Eugene that me I have met a "long-lost" friend who gives me a sense of being confident, peaceful, stronger, even though I was not yet strong enough.
That is crucial, the most important thing is how we see ourselves. Others' response is usually the image of our own behavior. Perception is projection.
Thanks so much for your appreciation and invitation. It will be a very pleasant, relaxed time for sure...
Maybe, my worry at that moment was a bit from my own imagination You are right. Eugene should have ability to face his own issues. We as parents are happy to find his emotion control is better from the exchange, growing up to a responsible guy. Now he is going to do the FYP. Their group chose an adviser, who is famous for his stringiness, nevertheless, he is relentless for self improvement. The group care much for interesting project, learning rather for marks.
I found DP is a place that we can share and support with heart and soul, which has not felt yet from else anywhere although I have learned many courses in the past ten years.
I told Eugene that me I have met a "long-lost" friend who gives me a sense of being confident, peaceful, stronger, even though I was not yet strong enough.
That is crucial, the most important thing is how we see ourselves. Others' response is usually the image of our own behavior. Perception is projection.
Great! We are looking forward to visiting you.
==-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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