I'm watching Sky News. Aung San Suu Kyi has finally been released!
She had been in a house arrest for the last fifteen years.
I sincerely hope she will be allowed to go on with her life, and perhaps govern her beloved country someday. She did win the majority of the Parliamentary seats in 1990 despite being in jail.
Democracy wins the day!
A little background from Reuters:
Born in Rangoon (now Yangon) in June 1945, she is daughter of General Aung San, an independence hero assassinated in 1947. Her mother, Khin Kyi, was also a prominent figure.
She studied politics in New Delhi and philosophy, politics and economics at Britain's Oxford University. In 1972, she married British academic Michael Aris.
Suu Kyi returned to Yangon in April 1988 to take care of her dying mother at a time of countrywide pro-democracy protests against the army regime. Keen to continue her father's legacy, she entered politics and helped set up the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, becoming its secretary-general and calling for an end to military rule.
The junta placed the charismatic and popular Suu Kyi under house arrest in July 1989 for "endangering the state." The next year, even without her, the NLD won 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in Myanmar's first election in almost 30 years. The military refused to relinquish power.
Suu Kyi, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has been in prison or under house arrest off and on for 15 years since 1989.
She is now 65 years-old and looks remarkably sprite. Will she be a threat to that odious military regime? Let's hope it ends well, and that Democracy wins the day.
Update: plaudits are pouring in from various heads of States. Joy around the world!
Update: France 24 has better reporting, and some interesting segments on her life.
Update: Wouldn't you know it! Focked News is not saying anything on this, just the usual dunderheads mouthing off platitudes, and dissing Prez Obama's trip to Asia!
Update: On France 24 (link above), they have suggested that China may have been pressurizing the Burmese junta into releasing her. Interesting.
Update: President Obama calls for the release of ALL political prisoners!
Updatee: the first live shots of her are remarkable. She is clearly overwhelmed. She looks well, smiling, a beautiful bunch of flowers tied into her hair (can't make it out, probably orchids).
Update: she is to hold a party meeting at her house tomorrow, and has urged her followers to go there. This will be most interesting.
Update: From KoNko, here is the Live BBC site for further news on the release/
Update: Excellent reporting from Al Jazeera.