【明報專訊】Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (緬甸民主領袖昂山素姬) was released on 13 November 2010 after fifteen years of house arrest. On the eve of it hundreds of her supporters gathered outside her mansion. As the TIME magazine has pointed out, hers is the most striking release of a dissident (政見不同者) after that of former South African President Nelson Mandela (南非前總統曼德拉) in 1990.
Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest for fifteen years. In fact, her term of house arrest should have ended last year, but the military government, accusing her of violating house arrest law, extended it one and a half year. That prevented her from standing for president last year.
Since her release, Aung San Suu Kyi has openly spoken to her supporters and has been interviewed by the media. She calls on her supporters to persist in striving for democracy, emphasising that democracy is built upon free speech. She has thrown an olive stem, an emblem of peace, to the military government, saying she has no hatred for those who had her arrested and is willing to persuade the West to lift sanctions against Burma.
■Keywords
democracy 民主
freedom of speech 言論自由
■Further readings
BBC. "Aung San Suu Kyi aims for peaceful revolution", 2010.11.15
■Questions
1. What was the issue mentioned in the passage?
2. What has Suu Kyi urged her supporters to do?
3. How has Aung San Suu Kyi's release impacted on the world?
