The Voice of Hope
By Alan Clements
Seven Stories Press, 2003,
304 pages, $14.50
U Tin U, deputy leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy (NLD), once said that “Burma is a prison within a prison.” His words highlight the tragic political, social, and economic circumstances that Burma is faced with today because of the military junta. Its calling card is a permanent stain on humanity.
The thoughts, movements, and actions of more than 50 million civilians are under constant surveillance by a regime obsessed with maintaining control. Yet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s thoughts, words, and actions provide a beacon of hope that a people’s democracy will someday take shape in Burma.
Alan Clements traveled to Rangoon in December 1995 to meet secretly with Daw Suu Kyi and recorded a series of dialogues with the leader of the NLD. Clements’ involvement with Burma goes back 30 years. He is the first American to be ordained a Buddhist monk, and like all foreign journalists entering Burma, he has also encountered the wrath of the military junta and been deported.
Between Clements’ extensive knowledge of the domestic situation and Daw Suu Kyi’s wisdom and elegance in answering every question put before her, readers will understand how Buddhism is closely connected with politics in Burma and why the concepts of faith and metta (loving kindness) are important building blocks of any genuine democracy.
Each chapter is named after a sentence that typifies the beliefs, sacrifice, and struggle that best summarize key points in Daw Suu Kyi’s existence. It also demonstrates the enormous love that she shares for every person who has risked his or her life to hear speeches delivered from her compound. She speaks repeatedly of compassion toward members of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and declares that they, too, can show love for the people of Burma.
One cannot help but admire any individual willing to risk his or her life to hear a political icon outline the real situation in Burma and how and why civilians are suffering. In the process of unraveling Daw Suu Kyi’s deepest thoughts, Clements uncovers a defiant individual who will not be intimidated by weaponry in the hands of authority, while uncovering the keys to life: love for humanity, education, and an open heart. It is little wonder that Foreign Policy rated her number 26 in their Top 100 Global Leaders list for 2009.
Daw Suu Kyi speaks modestly and candidly in describing her upbringing, the role of her parents in shaping her values, her frenetic daily routine while under house arrest, life abroad and eventual homecoming to Burma, and unrelenting commitment to nonviolence. She personifies the tenacity of Burma’s people and their ability to adopt a sense of humor in spite of the horrific conditions they face. Only a special human being can constantly laugh throughout years of suffering.
The appeal of the dialogue is that Daw Suu Kyi’s answers to some of Clements’ lengthy questions and points are presented plainly and with fervor as if she were addressing a crowd of tens of thousands of her supporters.
The facts relating to Burma’s political, social, and economic decline are not new, but Clements aims to reveal to the world the extent and frequency of abuse. He warns us that if we do not regard Burma as our highest priority, it is not just the people that face the harshest consequences of tyranny. As a society, we will all carry the burden of watching humans slowly die without directly intervening.
This is not only an incredible individual we are learning about more intimately. Daw Suu Kyi is consistent that her work is only possible through the efforts of her fellow party members, and Clements interviews individuals who have been vocal in their opposition to the military junta. He speaks candidly with U Gambira, leader of the All-Burma Monks Alliance and inspiration for the 2007 Saffron Revolution, and influential NLD individuals and scholars U Kyi Maung and U Tin U. Their insights, along with a chronology of the country’s recent and international contacts, give readers the tools to discuss Burma at every regional and international meeting, at dinner tables, and at bars. There is so much at stake now, not just with Daw Suu Kyi’s trial but with the much-criticized elections due to be held this year, which Daw Suu Kyi has been barred from contesting.
The Voice of Hope unmasks a political icon who has been silenced for too long. It reminds us that the forgotten people of Burma are not just the dead who were reduced to living on their knees for so much of their lives, but the living voiceless who continue to believe that the reinstatement of a 20-year-old democracy will signal the commencement of a long path to justice. Alan Clements crudely tells the most powerful leaders on the planet to stop waiting for a miracle to occur. This book is the catapult that will launch individuals into taking immediate action. The message here is loud and clear: use your rights and privileges to help the long-suffering civilians of Burma gain their freedom. Without Daw Suu Kyi’s presence, our world will be so empty.
