Aung San Suu Kyi Analysis

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Aung San Suu Kyi both fall into a category of those who fought against the unjust of society to change. From Martin Luther with his change in the church through the Reformation, or Ghandi with his nonviolent protests against the British in India, they along with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Aung San Suu Kyi fought for a change in their society. Though King and Suu Kyi differ in their fight, they both shared the same motive that they wanted to fight for, equality for all. While King addressed the unjust in society through his “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” conducted sit-ins, speeches and preaching nonviolence, Suu Kyi took another approach in her “In Quest of Democracy,” speaking only when the government

allowed her, as she spent her days in confinement away from her family and secluded from her supporters.
Suu Kyi once said, “When the king does not observe Dhamma, state functionaries become corrupt, and when state functionaries are corrupt the people
are caused much suffering” (223). What Suu Kyi meant by this was that when the government does not protect the justice and virtue of the people and obtain the law for all in society, then that society will become corrupt, and if the society becomes corrupt then all will suffer. In Burma, the people are controlled and confined by the military and are being denied their rights. Suu Kyi believed that the power to conserve the justice and withhold the laws to all lay within the government, yet when the government could not uphold these rights of man then all becomes corrupt and all suffer so she took her beliefs and spoke out against the government. Coming up strong after the revolts and chaos that took place in Burma, she was arrested by the military that had taken control and selected who they wanted in office. The once already chaotic state of Burma became more corrupt under the Junta, military government, as they denied the rights of the citizens. As Suu Kyi stood up against the government, they suppressed her by imprisonment and keeping her confined in her own home only to allow her to make an appearance or speech for her followers.
Being suppressed is something that King has also faced, however not to the extremes that she has.

King was put into Birmingham City Jail where he came across a letter written by eight white clergymen, enclosed in the letter were the views of those clergymen and their beliefs on the protests that King had conducted. In King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” he questioned them asking how they, as fellow Christians can believe that the unjust of society is just when select groups of that society are subjected under the rules and laws (Jim Crowe Laws) that the others of the society were not obligated to obey it. King believed that they would view his side and see the injust that was held in the society. Questioning and giving them examples to show the unjustness King showed in his letter the dehumanization and degrading that African Americans faced. “when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ‘white’ and ‘colored’; when your first name becomes ‘nigger’ and your middle name becomes ‘boy’ (however old you are)and your last name becomes ‘John’.”(207) King how the African American race wasn’t referred to as their name like the white man rather than a derogatory name, which made them feel under those who were not colored. Oppressed by society, oppressed by other Christians who believed in the same God as King himself did, he question how and why. How could the clergy men see the society they live in as just, how was it just to hose nonviolent protesters or set dogs on them. Why did they not see the wrong of society, as only the police who were supposed to protect all of the society and ensure their wellbeing turned a blind eye to the wrongs that the white man did and singled out the African Americans, arresting them for simply walking on the same side of the road that a white man did or for not abiding by the Jim Crowe Laws created just for the African American

race.
Suu Kyi and King may have fought on a different template but their higher officials brings corrupt behaviors into play. They both fought for democracy. Democracy was the freedom for all, the opportunity to speak up about the government and not be punished, to fight for a change and to have your rights as men be upheld and protected by those higher up in society. Suu Kyi’s fight won her the Nobel Peace Prize and the support of many as she told the “Ten Duties of Kings” that would ensure harmony and tranquility within the state of Burma which is something that Buddhist believed in. King’s fight against injustice led him to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, with the “I Have a Dream” speech that talks about the democratic equality that America should have, his path he took to get there started to question. By questioning the acts of the government and society, on if injustice and unfair rules/ regulations where appropriate, for only certain groups just like Suu Kyi and Martin Luther.