The Lady and the Peacock (75 page)
Read The Lady and the Peacock Online
Authors: Peter Popham
From the Land of Green Ghosts
by Pascal Khoo Thwe (2002), the vivid memoir of the up-country boy from the Padaung tribe, famous for their “giraffe-necked” women, who fled into exile in 1989 and went on to study English at Cambridge.
The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire
by Andrew Marshall (2002): a witty travelogue entwined with a re-telling of the life story of Sir George Scott (see
The Burman
, above)
The Native Tourist: A Holiday Pilgrimage in Burma
by Ma Thanegi (2005): what Suu's former friend did next: a whimsical but informative journey through the country.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Three news websites run by Burmese expatriates offer the best and most detailed coverage of events inside a country that remains remarkably opaque: The Irrawaddy, based in Chiangmai, Thailand (
www.irrawaddy.org
); Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Norway (www.dvb.no); and Mizzima News Agency, based in New Delhi (
www.mizzima.com
).
Many people have helped me in many different ways during the research and writing of this book, but some of my debts of gratitude antedate it by decades. It was Alexander Chancellor, my first editor at the
Independent
, who in 1991 agreed to send me to Burma with the photographer Greg Girard to research an article on the fate of Burma's democracy movement for the
Independent Magazine
. Eleven years on, Leonard Doyle, foreign editor of the same paper, sent me to Rangoon to interview Aung San Suu Kyi and then made a fundamental contribution to the project by introducing me to Mark Farmaner and Anna Roberts at the Burma Campaign UK. Mark and Anna have helped me in innumerable ways since then, not least by reading the first draft and drawing my attention to many errors and omissions, and their colleagues, in particular Zoya Phan, have also been very kind. However, neither I nor anyone else involved in the book's publication is connected to the Burma Campaign UK in any way, and all opinions and conclusions expressed in the book are mine alone.
Suu's English in-laws are understandably shy of publicity, but I cannot avoid mentioning the kindness and warmth they showed me even when they had no idea whether or not I could be trusted. Since then we have become good friends, and they have contributed greatly to the value of the book, not only through endless conversations but by introducing me to other people and by reading the first draft and pointing out mistakes. Once they had read the book and decided it was worthwhile, they also did me the great honor of allowing me to quote from or at least look over certain material of a private nature, and to use a number of family photographs.
Harriet O'Brien, Lady Gore-Booth, Patricia Herbert, Martin Morland, Robert and Pam Gordon, Tom and Danielle White and Anna Allott are others closely associated with Burma and Suu who have been generous with their knowledge and contacts.
I met Dr. Maung Zarni much later in the process of research than I would have wanted, but he made up for lost time by providing me with much information that I could have obtained nowhere else, and by the endless stimulation of his ideas.
My old school friend Steve Weinman, his wife Khin Myint and Khin's sister Tin Tin have made an important contribution to this project. Khin and Tin Tin have been constantly available to correct my errant notions and answer strange questions, and Khin in particular is to be thanked for an introduction which changed the book's prospects.
Bertil Lintner was wonderfully generous with his time and memories when we met in Chiangmai, as was Nyo Ohn Myint in the same city. Gustaaf
Houtman and Ingrid Jordt are two Burma experts who in their different ways helped me immensely. Maureen Aung-Thwin of the Open Society Foundations opened her address book for me, to the book's great advantage. My elder son, Mario, lent me his genial company and his photographic brilliance on more than one exacting field trip. Claire Lewis was a fairy godmother whose wishes have yet to be realized but we live in hope. I offer a deep
gassho
to Dario Doshin Girolami for helping me once again to put my feet upon the Way.
Others to whom I would like to offer my thanks include:
Shankar Acharya, Gillon Aitken, Andrew Kidd and their colleagues at Aitken Alexander Associates, Jon Bernstein, Ian Birrell, Archie Bland, Richard Blurton, Vicky Bowman, Ruth Bradley-Jones, Katherine Butler, Mark Canning, Baroness Caroline Cox, Peter Carey, Federico Ceratto, Emmanuele Cappelutti and all my other Dharma friends in Rome, Sir Robin Christopher, Alan Clements, Steve Crawshaw, Jason Cowley, Rana Dasgupta, Cecilia Draghi, George Duffield, Sophie Elmhirst, George Duffield, Anne Gyrithe Bonne, Andrew Heyn, Christo Hird, Andrew Huxley, Laurence Earle, Keith Fielder, Jamie Fergusson, Jared Genscher, Imogen Haddon, Catherine Haughney, Suzanne Hoelgaard, Htein Lin, David Jenkins, Liz Jobey, Joshua, Malavika Karlekar, Simon Kelner, Judith Kendra, Sue Lascelles and all their colleagues at Rider, Paul Mander, Charlotte Middlehurst, Sarah Miller, David Modell, Junko Nakayama, Monica Narula, Terry McCarthy, Ohn Mar Oo, Anders Ãstergaard, Noriko and Sadayoshi Ohtsu, David Randall, Ann Pasternak Slater, Sam Popham, Ben Rogers, Juliet Rogers, Ros Russell, Debby Stothard and Nita Yin Yin May.
In addition, numerous Burmese people and some foreigners within Burma have helped me in the course of this project, offering me their time, knowledge and friendship at considerable peril to themselves, a peril I will not add to by naming them here.
Finally, my wife Daniela and our son Gabriel have lived with this book since its conception and have participated in its creation in more ways than they, or I, can be fully aware of. Thank you.
Despite all the help I have received, I take full responsibility for any mistakes that remain.
I will donate a portion of the earnings from this book to Prospect Burma, the charity supported by Aung San Suu Kyi which has been helping Burmese people study abroad since the crushing of the democracy movement in 1988, and the Assistance Association for Political PrisonersâBurma.
The author would like to thank the following for permission to use copyright material: Anne Gyrithe Bonne, Bonne Film productions for quotes from
Aung San Suu KyiâLady of No Fear
(Kamoli Films, Denmark 2010); Eland Publishing Ltd for material from
Golden Earth
by Norman Lewis (© 1951, reissue 2003); Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC for material from
The River of Lost Footsteps
by Thant Myint-U (© 2006 by Thant Myint-U); Guardian News & Media Ltd for extract from “Review of
Voice of Hope
” by Mary Warnock (
Observer
, May 25, 1997; © Guardian News & Media Ltd 1997); HarperCollins Publishers Ltd for material from
Land of Green Ghosts
by Pascal Khoo Thwe (© Pascal Khoo Thwe, 2002); Gustaaf Houtman for material from his
Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics
(ILCAA, 1999); Independent Print Limited for extracts from
Independent
newspaper articles: “Belief in Burma's Future” by Aung San Suu Kyi (September 12, 1988), “The Road to Manerplaw” (May 25, 1991) and “Welcome to Burma” (February 21, 2011) by Peter Popham and the following by Terry McCarthy: “Burmese Army Coup” (September 19, 1988), “Burma Opposition Will Not Give in to Army Rule” (September 20, 1988); “Fragile Peace Settles on Rangoon” (September 21, 1988); “Ne Win Still Fights for Control” (September 28, 1988), “Rangoon Peaceful for Funeral of Widow (January 3, 1989), “Opposition Vote Leaves Burma's Rulers Stunned” (with Yuli Ismartono, June 15, 1990), “EC to End Boycott of Burmese Junta” (June 15, 1990); Irrawaddy Publishing Group for material from “Memories of 8.8.88” by Dominic Faulder and interview with Gene Sharp, March 2011; Bertil Lintner for material from his
Outrage
(Kiscadale,1989); Lonely Planet for material from
Burma
, edition 4, by Tony Wheeler and Joe Cummings (© 1998, YR Lonely Planet);
New York Times
for “A Daughter of Burma, But Can She Be a Symbol?” by Steven Erlanger (November 1,1989); Oxford University Press, India for material from
Remembered ChildhoodâEssays in Honor of Andre Beteille
, ed. Marlavika Karlekar and Rudrangshu Mukherjee (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2009); Pan Macmillan for material from
Defeat into Victory
by William Slim (2009); Penguin Books for material from
Freedom from Fear
by Aung San Suu Kyi (reissue 2010) and
Letters from Burma
by Aung San Suu Kyi (reissue 2010); Penguin Books and Michael Joseph for material from
Forgotten Land
; Rider Books, Random House and Editions Stock for material from
The Voice of Hope
by Alan Clements and Aung San Suu Kyi (2008); University of Pennsylvania Press for material from
Karaoke Fascism
by Monique Skidmore (2004);
Washington Post
for extracts from “Myanmar Crushes Monks” Movement” by William Branigin (October 28, 1990) and “Myanmar Moves on Opposition, 2 Leading Activists Under House Arrest” by Keith B. Richburg (July 22, 1989); Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA,
www.wisdompubs.org
, for material from
In This Very Life
by Sayadaw U. Pandita (reissue © Sayadaw U Pandita, Saddhamma Foundation, 1991); Zed Books for material from
Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity
by Martin Smith (1998). While every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the author and publisher will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.
Acharya, Shankar
196
,
197
,
190
,
199
,
200
Albright, Madeleine
307
â8,
319
Algeria
198
â9
All-Burma Patriotic Old Comrades League
67
All-Burma Students' Democratic Front
279
All-Burma Students' Union
64
Allott, Anna
238
Anawrahta, King
277
Annan, Kofi
367
Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (APFL)
12
,
13
,
14
,
91
,
162
,
178
,
369
Aquino Jr., Benigno
246
Aquino, Corazon
118
life
birth
223
childhood visits to Burma
223
,
229
Dragon School, Oxford
235
in Indian Himalayas with Michael
238
visits Suu Kyi in Kyoto
241
granted visa
97
with Suu Kyi before her house arrest
157
with Suu Kyi on her hunger strike
245
leaves Burma
247
Burmese passport invalidated
248
acceptance speech for Suu Kyi's Nobel Peace Prize
300
â1
Suu Kyi's commitment to
119
,
247
â8
Suu Kyi's reminiscences
106
,
140
,
142
Aris, Anthony (brother-in-law)
206
,
207
,
209
,
217
Aris, Evelyn
230
Aris, John (father-in-law)
206
â7,
230
death
245
life
birth
230
babyhood
235
Dragon School, Oxford
235
granted visa
97
with Suu Kyi before her house arrest
157
with Suu Kyi on her hunger strike
245
leaves Burma
247
Burmese passport invalidated
248
acceptance of Suu Kyi's Nobel Peace Prize
299
Suu Kyi's commitment to
119
,
247
â8
Suu Kyi's reminiscences
106
,
140
,
142
Aris, Lucinda (sister-in-law)
207
,
331
Aris, Michael (husband)
5
,
18
â19,
111
,
121
,
131
,
326
background
206
â7
life
falls in love with Suu Kyi
207
â8
tutor to royal house of Thimphu
25
,
209
â10,
222
courtship of Suu Kyi
25
engagement to Suu Kyi
217
â18
letters from Suu Kyi
19
,
217
,
218
â19
first trip to Burma with Suu Kyi
220
â1
doctoral thesis
223
Brompton flat
223
in Nepal with Suu Kyi and Alexander
221
,
223
visits Burma with Suu Kyi and Alexander
223
,
229
Scotland stay with his family
229
St. John's College fellowship
230