Walk On

I am proud to state that the supreme commander of our defence forces, in short our President, visited our neighbour Myanmar and called on General Than Shwe, the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, last week. I wish that the comity of nations realized, sooner than later, that isolation never reaped any benefit. It is only through engagement and positive dialogue that one can bring forth desirable sea changes.

Besides signing a few agreements, Mr. President interacted with students (favourite part of his itinerary any day I’m sure). However, the only shortcoming of this unprecedented visit (unforgivable for me) was his failure to even mention the name of Aung San Suu Kyi (see picture) in his discussions with the military junta. This is not to imply that the delegation happened to suffer from temporary amnesia as I bet that the topic never really figured in the ‘To Do’ list in the first place.

I really admire the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest intermittently since 1989. In fact the political dissident in me came out by wearing a lapel pin of Myanmar’s national flag on my favourite jacket in college to spread awareness about the atrocious political situation across the Bay of Bengal.

When Ms Kyi's husband Michael Aris, a British citizen, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997, the Burmese government denied him an entry visa. She remained in Burma (so called by nations not recognising the military government), and never again saw her husband, who died in March 1999. She remains separated from their children, who remain in the United Kingdom.

In 2001, Irish rock band U2 released the single Walk On, which was written about and dedicated to her and subsequently banned by the junta.

And love, it's not the easy thing, the only baggage that you can bring is all that you can't leave behind.
And if the darkness is to keep us apart, and if the daylight feels like it's a long way off,
And if your glass heart should crack before the second you turn back,
Oh no, be strong... Walk on Walk on...
What you got, they can't steal it, no they can't even feel it, stay safe tonight.
You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been,
A place that has to be believed to be seen.
You could have flown away, a singing bird in an open cage who will only fly only fly for freedom.
What you got You can't deny it, can't sell it or buy it.
And I know it aches, how your heart it breaks, you can only take so much
Home... Hard to know what it is if you never had one Home...I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home, that's where the hurt is.
You've got to leave it behind - all that you fashion, all that you make, all that you build, all that you break, all that you measure, all that you steal, all this you can leave behind, all that you reason, all that you care, it's only time and I'll never fill up all my mind.
All that you sense, all that you speak, all you dress up and all that you scheme, all you create, all that you wreck, all that you hate...

The international policeman (read the US of A) is believed to have pressured the Myanmar government to release her. I'm sure the Capitol can do BETTER THAN THAT!

Let us all WAKE UP and WALK ON to ensure that (for starters) Ms Kyi celebrates her next birthday in grand style being FREE.