Towering Nobel Peace Prize Laureates

LIGHTER MOMENTS
Hilarion ‘Abe’ Pawid

They are both recipients of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

They are the modern-day darlings of the world who stand for humanitarian values, equality, justice, peace and democracy. Separated thousands of miles from each other they are Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, now called Myanmar.

Strikingly, they served time in prison for their advocacy. Kyi was freed a few weeks ago on November 13 by the Burmese ruling military junta after 16 years under house arrest. Her local supporters and the world welcomed her release even as she appealed to “keep fighting for political reforms” in her impoverished country.

Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years and was released in l990. He later became the first democratically elected president in l994 and laid the foundations of cooperation between the black and white populations of South Africa. Both could be considered the most famous political prisoners of modern times for their avocation for peace and democracy.

Writing for Time Magazine, Hannah Beech described Kyi as the “voice of the most oppressed people”. On the day of her release, Kyi asked for a reconciliation meeting with the top military rulers but the junta seems to ignore her request. Undaunted by the snub, she is moving around the countryside rallying her supporters while the junta is watching her commit mistakes that could mean another arrest.

How Kyi, a beautiful lady of 65 years with delicate features, continue inspiring millions of her countrymen to clip the powers of the military junta and install a democratic form of governance is not an enigma.

She is a Buddhist and a believer for non-violence. Unlike Mandela who has the penchant for writing his thoughts and experience, Kyi is news with the media documenting her campaign for peace and democracy.

The world watches and listens to her pleas for help. Mandela is the author of international bestseller “Long Walk to Freedom” and “Conversations with Myself” which very recently came off the press.

How would Kyi transform the ideology she vigorously articulated in actual settings is the question in the minds of some of her former party mates and world observers after the results of the recently concluded elections she opted to boycott.

Time Magazine observed that the transition of principle to reality is difficult enough citing the case of Poland’s Lech Valesa, considered the “Lion” of the resistance to communism “but became a disappointing President”.

In the Philippines, Cory Aquino failed to address the principles her late husband advocated and died for. Graft and corruption flourished, illegal gambling such as jueteng was institutionalized while dollar reserves dwindled and foreign debts more than doubled.

A former Burmese activist and a colleague of Kyi says “She must realistically accept the rule of the military and figure out how to co-exist because the military is not ready to go back to the barracks,” reported Beech of Time Magazine.