Paying the ultimate personal price

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Subject: Paying the ultimate personal price for Burma's freedom

  Editorial & Opinion


Paying the ultimate personal price for Burma's freedom

Michael Aris never did have the chance to say a final goodbye to his wife,
Aung San Suu Kyi, writes Yindee Lertcharoenchok.

In the academic world, British scholar Dr Michael Aris had his own strong
credentials as an authority on Tibet and Himalayan studies. But ironically,
he would be best remembered as the husband of one of the world's most
renowned political leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.

The Oxford don died from prostate cancer at Churchill Hospital in Oxford
early Saturday morning, the day he was to have a small private family
get-together for his 53rd birthday. Sadly, his last wish to have a chance to
say goodbye in person to his wife in Rangoon was never fulfilled as the
Burmese junta had persistently refused to grant him a visa.

With him in his last hours were his close family members, particularly his
two sons, Alexander and Kim, who have, along with their parents, bravely
gone through much agony and sacrifice when Suu Kyi decided to stay on in
Burma after returning there in April 1988 to tend to her dying mother Daw
Khin Kyi.

In the introduction to his wife's book ''Freedom from Fear'', Aris wrote
that it was that decisive event on July 23, 1988, when Burmese leader
General Ne Win, under the pressure of a popular uprising, declared that he
would step down and allow a referendum on the future of Burma that Suu Kyi
decided the time had come for her to step forward in the Burmese political
scene.

Privately, the Aris family had suffered and sacrificed tremendously over the
past decade when the Burmese military rulers decided to exploit them on a
number of counts to break Suu Kyi's physical and mental strength. Although
they allowed Aris and the two boys to visit Suu Kyi occasionally even when
she was illegally placed under house arrest between July 1989 and July 1995,
they had expected that these family reunions would eventually force her to
leave Burma.

Virtually every member in the Aris family was not spared the regime's dirty
ploys. After a family reunion in July-September 1989, the ruling generals
decided to cancel the Burmese passports of Alexander and Kim, claiming that
they were not entitled to Burmese citizenship. ''Very obviously the plan was
to break Suu's spirit by separating her from her children in the hope that
she would accept permanent exile,'' Aris wrote.

Suu Kyi herself has silently suffered from the regime's incessant campaigns
of character assassination. Apart from numerous threats, they have tried to
deport her by force despite that the fact she is a Burmese born in Burma and
holds a Burmese passport. She has refused to grant the regime its wish for
her to go into foreign exile, arguing that other Burmese people have
suffered much more personal losses and grievance under one of the world's
most repressive regimes.

Their latest trick which cost the couple dearly was depriving Michael and
Suu Kyi their last chance to be together for a final goodbye. She refused
the regime's pressure for her to go and see her dying husband in England,
knowing that she would never be let back in her home country. Aris' last
visit to his wife was over three years ago when he spent Christmas and New
Year with her.

Throughout Suu Kyi's non-violent struggle, it was Aris who had silently
watched and supported her, physically and spiritually, from behind the
scenes. Most important of all, he kept to his last breath the pledge he had
given before their marriage on Jan 1, 1972, that should Burma and its people
need her, he will not stand in the way. ''I only ask one thing, that should
my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by them,'' was Suu Kyi's
request.

As a father, Aris tried his best to look after the two sons who lost their
mother to the Burmese political movement at a tender age when maternal love,
care and attention were most needed. Guests to the family's beautiful house
in Park Town -- a quiet neighbourhood in Oxford -- were often given a tour
of their home including a rare glimpse of the master bedroom where Michael
kept the beautifully framed 1991 Nobel Peace Prize certificate he and his
two sons received on behalf of Suu Kyi in Oslo. Also there, is a large
collection of books the couple had accumulated throughout their scholarly
years, hers on Burma and his on Tibet and the Himalayas.

Suu Kyi has only praise and appreciation for the soft-speaking, ever modest
and courteous Aris. He knew that Suu has put her country and its people
before her own priorities and will never give in or give up until she
achieves her objective. His deep personal torment of living thousands of
miles apart were kept to himself but the grievance was evident when he spoke
of the woman of his life.

Throughout those lonely years, Aris was often invited to give speeches or
receive awards at various international functions across the globe on behalf
of his wife. But it was academic work and research which had kept him busy
and thus gave him solace. In fact, Aris himself had earned worldwide
recognition for his academic excellence in the field of culture and
political history of Tibet and the Buddhist Himalayas.

Aris was born on March 27, 1946, in Havana, Cuba. After completing his BA in
1967, he spent seven years working as a private tutor to the royal family of
Bhutan and was also the head of the Bhutanese government's Translation
Department. After their marriage, Aris and Suu Kyi shared many trips and
periods of residence in the Himalayas including Bhutan, Nepal, Ladakh,
Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

In 1974, Aris began his post-graduate studies in Tibetan literature at the
School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London and
became a research fellow at several colleges of Oxford University after his
graduation. He had supervised graduate students on both sides of the
Atlantic and was a visiting professor of Tibetan and Himalayan studies at
Harvard University between 1990 and 1992. He then returned to Oxford and
re-joined the Asian Studies Centre of St Antony's College as a senior
research fellow -- the position he held until his death.

He had given many lectures and written a wide range of articles and
publications including ''Bhutan: Aspects of Culture and Development'',
co-editor, (1994); ''The Raven Crown: The Rise of Monarchy in Bhutan''
(1994); ''Lamas, Princes and Brigands'' (1992); ''Hidden Treasures and
Secret Lives'' (1989) and ''Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan
Kingdom'' (1979).

For her husband who had unfailingly supported her throughout their 27 years
of marriage, Suu Kyi had these final touching words. ''I have been so
fortunate to have such a wonderful husband who had always given me the
understanding I needed. Nothing can take that away from me.''

As the only remaining pillar of the family, Suu Kyi understands that her two
sons need her. It remains to be seen how the Burmese regime will treat this
latest twist of events and if they would reject the wish of a mother who
wants to be reunited with her two grieving sons in Rangoon as soon as
possible.

Ending his introduction in Suu Kyi's ''Freedom from Fear'', Aris wrote of
his selfishness for wishing that the Nobel Peace Prize would bring about
political dialogue and lasting peace in Burma and that the situation would
be eased for the family to be able to reunite. ''We miss her very much,'' he
ended the chapter. But these days it will be Michael Aris himself whom the
family and the academic world will sadly miss.

The Nation