Burmese day

05/15/09 10:04

Patrick Buchanan's op-ed piece in today's Herald - "There is no choice but to stand and fight" - is about the Republican Party, not about Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's Nobel Peace Prize recipient who was recently taken to prison.

I found out about the arrest yesterday, at the Galt Ocean Mile Reading Center in Fort Lauderdale, where local sculptor Jim McNalis was speaking about Suu Kyi's plight. I've known Jim for several years, as we share a passion for travel, one that has taken him to Burma eight times. Last year, when he applied for a visa, he was refused. He has done sculptures not only of Suu Kyi but of the military leaders, including a caricature of General Than Shwe titled "Than Swine."

Jim showed a Dateline program about Suu Kyi (pronounced "sue chi") that was filmed in 2000. "It is very timely," he said after Jane Pauley signed off. "Nothing has changed since then." Except of course that, after years of house arrest, Suu Kyi was recently taken to the house of detention known as "Insane Prison." A publicity-hungry American had swum across a lake to her house, and stayed for two days to recover; by housing him, Suu Kyi, according to the government, had violated the terms of her house arrest. Jim noted that it is against the law to have a foreigner stay in your home in Burma (a name the military changed to Myanmar).

The frail woman is about to turn 64 and one fears for her health if she is kept in prison. Her story of selfless dedication to her country - which has caused her to be separated from her English husband (now deceased) and two sons - inspired the small group of Florida seniors who came yesterday to hear Jim's talk, just as the Burmese military's brutal treatment of her enraged them. "Isn't there anything the UN can do?" someone asked. "Isn't there anything we can do?" asked another. It was very touching to see this heartfelt concern for a person, and a cause, so worthy but so distant. Jim acknowledged that, in today's world, Burma is a very low priority. Then he added: "Girls all know Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, when Suu Kyi should be their role model."

He spoke admiringly of the Burmese people: their courage, their steadfastness, their great sense of humor while living "in an absence of hope." He noted that when you go there and talk to someone they give you total, 100 percent attention. "We've lost that here," he said sadly. "We're too sophisticated."

He told of going to a temple, and seeing people praying. He asked his friend what people pray for. Many things, the friend told him, but the main thing is "to be reincarnated somewhere where this regime isn't."

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