Aung San Suu Kyi at a 2012 rally
Burma's shift from a reclusive military junta to a emerging democracy is a complex and even perplexing story, but one that has seen opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a catalyst for the country's remarkable change.
Ruled as a one-party state starting in 1962, Burma (also known as Myanmar) was plunged into poverty through a national program toward Soviet-style planning and superstitions over the course of two and a half decades. Then, during a series of demonstrations in 1988 now known as the 8888 Uprising, Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as the voice for freedom. In front of a half-a-million people in the country's capital of Rangoon, she defied the ruling party and called for Burma to transition into a democratic government.
By September of 1989, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest where she would remain for 15 of the next 21 years. Though a bloody crackdown ended the 8888 Uprising, she continued to call for non-violence, channeling the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi as well as her country's Buddhist beliefs.
In 1991, her efforts to promote democracy and human rights won her the Nobel Prize for Peace. By 2010, military junta began to enact reforms and Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. Now an active figure in Burmese politics, she plans to run for president in 2015.
In an official visit to Australia last week, Aung San Suu Kyi called for continued reforms and provided a glimpse into Burma's economic changes. During one of her few public engagements, Aung San Suu Kyi appeared at the Lowy Institute for International Policy to discuss the relationship between Burma and Australia as well as expand upon the story surrounding the country's remarkable transition to democracy.
In Conversation with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from Lowy Institute for International Policy on FORA.tv
Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/12/03/exclusive-aung-san-suu-kyi-on-burmas-remarkable-democratic-transition/
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