The Burmese pro-democracy activist has been freed from house arrest. Here, we republish an article first published in Index on Censorship in 1993
PLUS: Read Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech “Freedom From Fear”, here
In most cultures the end of the old year is a time for both spiritual and physical cleansing. It is a time for discarding what is worn out or ill- omened, a time to create an unsullied space for pristine thoughts and new beginnings. Tomorrow is the first of the three days of the Thingyan festival which precedes the Burmese New Year. Thingyan denotes a crossing over from the old to the new.
Education is the bridge that enables us to cross over from redundant mental processes to fresh intellectual vigour. In its best and broadest sense, education is seen not simply as a means of acquiring paper qualifications but as the door to wisdom, the foundation for all that is auspicious. Buddhism associates good deeds with the wise and evil deeds with the foolish and ignorant. Those who seek to remove ignorance help to promote not only worldly knowledge and spiritual enlightenment but, and this is of the utmost importance, a sense of individual responsibility and self- reliance.
Such qualities are urgently needed in contemporary Burma as it passes through a critical period of transition. The choices made at this time will determine the future of the country for years to come. It is therefore essential that our young people should be equipped to rise to the many practical and intellectual challenges which now confront them. One scholarship is but a drop in the ocean of existing needs. It is my hope that our own people will participate increasingly in the endeavour to gain for our country the benefits of truly meaningful education. It is the most valuable legacy that we can leave to future generations.
has been released after seven consecutive years under house arrest.
In most cultures the end of the old year is a time for both spiritual and physical cleansing. It is a time for discarding what is worn out or ill- omened, a time to create an unsullied space for pristine thoughts and new beginnings. Tomorrow is the first of the three days of the Thingyan festival which precedes the Burmese New Year. Thingyan denotes a crossing over from the old to the new.
Education is the bridge that enables us to cross over from redundant mental processes to fresh intellectual vigour. In its best and broadest sense, education is seen not simply as a means of acquiring paper qualifications but as the door to wisdom, the foundation for all that is auspicious. Buddhism associates good deeds with the wise and evil deeds with the foolish and ignorant. Those who seek to remove ignorance help to promote not only worldly knowledge and spiritual enlightenment but, and this is of the utmost importance, a sense of individual responsibility and self- reliance.
Such qualities are urgently needed in contemporary Burma as it passes through a critical period of transition. The choices made at this time will determine the future of the country for years to come. It is therefore essential that our young people should be equipped to rise to the many practical and intellectual challenges which now confront them. One scholarship is but a drop in the ocean of existing needs. It is my hope that our own people will participate increasingly in the endeavour to gain for our country the benefits of truly meaningful education. It is the most valuable legacy that we can leave to future generations.
Aung San Suu Kyi. First delivered by her husband Dr Michael Aris at afundraising reception hosted by the educational charity ‘Prospect Burma’
