The Lady and the Peacock (74 page)

S
EIN
W
IN
: cousin of Suu's; Prime Minister of National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma NCGUB in exile.

T
HAKIN
T
IN
M
YA
: communist; early collaborator with Suu.

T
IN
O
O
: retired general, vice chairman and cofounder of NLD, detained for many years.

U H
LA
P
E
: senior member of campaign touring group.

W
IN
K
HET
: personal assistant to Suu.

W
IN
T
HEIN
: one of Suu's bodyguards on campaign.

W
IN
T
IN
: dissident journalist, founder member of NLD, jailed for nineteen years.

W
UNNA
M
AUNG
: Suu's bodyguard at Depayin.

The Regime

A
UNG
L
YNN
H
TUT
: former member of Khin Nyunt staff, diplomat in Burma's US embassy before defecting.

K
HIN
M
AUNG
W
IN
: deputy Foreign Minister, apologist for Depayin massacre.

L
IEUTENANT
G
ENERAL
K
HIN
N
YUNT
: protégé of Ne Win; head of military intelligence.

G
ENERAL
M
AUNG
A
YE
: third member of Than Shwe-Khin Nyunt triumvirate.

M
AUNG
M
AUNG
: President from August 1988 to Sep 1988, replacing Sein Lwin.

M
AUNG
T
UN
: major who countermanded Captain Myint U's order to fire on Suu and NLD at Danubyu, probably saving Suu's life.

B
RIGADIER
M
YINT
A
UNG
: fierce enemy of NLD at Danubyu.

M
YINT
U: captain at Danubyu who ordered troops to fire at Suu and NLD party.

N
E
W
IN
: general who seized power in coup in 1962; ex-comrade of General Aung San.

G
ENERAL
S
AW
M
AUNG
: first Chairman of SLORC, supplanting Maung Maung as head of state.

S
EIN
L
WIN
: “the Butcher,” briefly replaced Ne Win as President.

L
IEUTENANT
C
OLONEL
T
HAN
H
AN
: the military commander behind Depayin assault.

G
ENERAL
T
HAN
S
HWE
: Chairman of SLORC/SPDC, replacing Saw Maung in 1992; in power until 2010.

B
RIGADIER
G
ENERAL
T
HAN
T
UN
: member of Khin Nyunt staff; negotiated with Suu in 2004.

T
IN
A
UNG
H
EIN
: Minister of Justice under Ne Win.

T
IN
P
E
: the “Red Brigadier”; hard-liner in Ne Win regime.

U W
IN
S
EIN
: Secretary of USDA, Minister of Transport; urged “eradication” of Suu before Depayin.

Diplomats

I
BRAHIM
G
AMBARI
: UN Deputy Secretary-General in mid 1990s.

R
OBERT
G
ORDON
: British ambassador in late 1990s.

R
AZALI
I
SMAIL
: UN envoy in early 1990s.

M
ARTIN
M
ORLAND
: British ambassador during 1988 uprising.

U T
HANT
: third Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Historical Figures

B
A
M
AW
: Prime Minister between the wars.

B
RIGADIER
K
YAW
Z
AW
: one of Aung San's thirty comrades; chided by Suu for lack of involvement in political struggle.

S
IR
J.G. (G
EORGE
) S
COTT
, aka Shway Yoe: British governor in Shan States; author of
The Burman
.

S
UPAYALAT
: Thibaw's queen, exiled with him in 1886.

T
HIBAW
: last King of Burma, exiled by British in 1886.

U O
TTAMA
: Buddhist monk, anti-British activist.

Others

A
SSHIN
I
SSARIYA
, aka King Zero: Buddhist monk, leader of Saffron Revolution in 2007.

B
O
K
YI
: student leader in 1988; founder and head of Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

G
ENERAL
B
O
M
YA
: historic leader of Karen Independence Army.

K
HAING
S
AW
T
HUN
: lawyer; refugee in Manerplaw camp, 1991.

D
AW
K
HIN
K
HIN
W
IN
: companion/housekeeper for Suu in detention.

K
HIN
M
YINT
: younger sister of Tin Tin, childhood friend of Suu's.

K
ITTY
B
A
T
HAN
: one of Ne Win's several wives.

L
EO
N
ICHOLS
, “Uncle Leo”: Anglo-Burmese businessman and family friend of Suu's.

M
AUNG
P
HONE
M
AW
: first victim of police violence, March 1988.

M
AUNG
Z
ARNI
: sociologist and activist.

M
EE
M
A
M
A
: daughter of Khin Khin Win; fellow companion/housekeeper for Suu.

M
IN
K
O
N
AING
: student leader.

D
R
. N
AING
A
UNG
: student leader in 1988; now in exile in Thailand.

N
ITA
Y
IN
Y
IN
M
AY
: information officer at British Embassy.

P
ASCAL
K
HOO
T
HWE
: former student leader, writer.

R
OSS
D
UNKLEY
: Australian entrepreneur and journalist, founder of the
Myanmar Times
.

S
OE
T
INT
: family friend of Suu's; escort of Daw Khin Kyi on Martyr's Day.

T
HANT
M
YINT
-U: grandson of U Thant; writer.

T
IN
T
IN
: childhood friend of Suu's.

D
R
. T
IN
T
UN
O
O
: regime crony; Chief Executive of
Myanmar Times
.

U G
AMBIRA
: Buddhist monk; leader of Saffron Revolution.

U N
U
: elected Prime Minister; overthrown by Ne Win.

The Burma bookshelf is short compared to that of other nations of South and Southeast Asia. The fact that books by or about Aung San Suu Kyi form such a large proportion of the total reflects not only her fame and popularity abroad, but also the reclusive nature of the state under military rule and the extreme difficulty of working there as a journalist or academic researcher.

The first biography of Suu to appear was
Aung San Suu Kyi: Toraware no Kujaku
, by Yoshikazu Mikami (1991), which is particularly strong on the Japanese connections of Aung San and his daughter.

Several other biographies have been published subsequently.
The Lady: Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi
by Barbara Victor (1998) and
Aung San Suu Kyi: Towards a New Freedom
by Ang Chin Geok (1998) are slim volumes, and both now very dated.
Le Jasmin ou la Lune
(2007) by the Bangkok-based Belgian journalist Thierry Falise is a fast-paced and fascinatingly detailed account of Suu's career, in French.
Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi
by Justin Wintle (2007) devotes much space to the premodern history of Burma and is often skeptical about Suu's career, blaming her “intransigence” as the reason why she has spent so many years in detention. But the book's main weakness is that, through no fault of his own, the author never actually met the book's subject.

Of Suu's own written work, the most important essays are collected in
Freedom from Fear
(1995), which contains her short biography of her father, her seminal long essay
Intellectual Life in Burma and India under Colonialism
, and other political landmarks such as her first speech at Shwedagon in August 1988. It also contains the tributes of friends, including Ann Pasternak Slater's moving and intimate memoir,
Suu Burmese. Letters from Burma
(1997) is a collection of the pieces Suu wrote regularly for the
Mainichi Daily News
in Tokyo after her release from house arrest in 1995.

One of the most revealing works about Suu's life and beliefs is
The Voice of Hope
(2008), a series of interviews conducted over a period of months by Alan Clements, a former Buddhist monk, in which Suu speaks more candidly about herself than ever before or since.

Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics
by Gustaaf Houtman (1999) is a fascinating scholarly account of the role Suu plays in Burmese politics, informed by the author's excellent knowledge of Burma and Burmese. Though out of print, it can be downloaded from Google Books.

For more on other aspects of Burma, the following can be recommended:

INSURGENCY AND DEMOCRACY STRUGGLE

Outrage
by Bertil Lintner (1990): a blow-by-blow history by the Swedish journalist, a veteran Burma-watcher, of the great Burmese uprising and its bloody suppression, enriched by numerous interviews and depositions by Burmese in the front line.

Land of Jade: a Journey through Insurgent Burma
by Bertil Lintner (1990): the story of Lintner's unique journey with his young and heavily pregnant wife—she gave birth en route—through the war-torn badlands of the Burmese frontier. A gem that deserves to be much better known.

Burma: Insurgency & the Politics of Ethnicity
by Martin Smith (1991), a detailed history of the insurgencies that have bedeviled Burma since independence and their causes.

Little Daughter
by Zoya Phan (2009): the moving autobiography of a Karen girl born and raised in the thick of Burma's ethnic wars.

Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma's Tyrant
by Benedict Rogers (2010): the only detailed biography of the man who bent Burma to his will from 1993 to 2010.

HISTORY

The most readable general introduction to Burmese history is
The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma
by Thant Myint-U (2006), which contrives to bring the region's endless dynastic wars and reversals of fortune to life.

Forgotten Land/A Rediscovery of Burm
a by Harriet O'Brien (1991) blends personal reminiscence—the author spent years in the country as a diplomatic “brat”—with a pithy yet vivid account of Burmese history.

Defeat into Victory
by Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1956) describes how the Second World War unfolded in Burma and includes a memorable account of the British commander's meeting with Aung San.

Two concise and authoritative works on contemporary Burma are:
A History of Modern Burma
by Michael W. Charney (2009), and
Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know
by David I. Steinberg (2010).

RELIGION

In This Very Life: The Liberation Teachings of the Buddha
by Sayadaw U Pandita (1989) is the book that Michael Aris gave Suu at the start of her first spell of detention: a bracingly straightforward manual of how to attain wisdom and peace through meditation, hugely influential in Burma and beyond, by a living master.

Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power
by Ingrid Jordt (2007) is the only scholarly account of this important movement.

Religion and Politics in Burm
a by Donald Eugene Smith (1965): a scholarly description of the political role played in Burma by Buddhism, before during and after annexation by Britain.

SOCIETY

The Burman: His Life and Notions
by Shway Yoe (first published 1882, reissued in 1989): a beautifully written and frequently hilarious exploration of Burmese life from birth to death and beyond, a cornucopia for anyone intrigued by the country. Shway Yoe was the pen name of J.G. (later Sir George) Scott, a colonial administrator who spent many years in the Shan States.

Karaoke Fascism: Burma and the Politics of Fear
by Monique Skidmore (2004) and
Burma at the Turn of the 20th Century
edited by Monique Skidmore (2005): two brave efforts by intrepid anthropologists and social scientists to get to grips with Burma, despite great discouragement by the authorities.

MISCELLANEOUS

Burmese Days
by George Orwell (1944) and
Finding George Orwell in Burma
by Emma Larkin (2006): Burma, where Orwell served as a colonial policeman, played an important role in the formation of his political ideas, confirming his hatred of colonialism. His first novel is a deeply unflattering portrait of Burma under the British—and Burma under the generals bears a striking resemblance to the world of
1984
. Larkin, an American journalist and Burmese speaker, traveled through Burma in Orwell's footsteps, teasing out the parallels.