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The Lady and the Peacock

An exclusive excerpt from the new biography on Burma's democratic opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

BY PETER POPHAM | MARCH 26, 2012

They set off through the almost deserted streets to walk back to the NLD office for dinner. But even though the market was long closed and the townspeople were indoors, the army was still determined to impede their progress. "On the way we were told by one military policeman that the road in front of market was not allowed to us." The order seemed ridiculous to Suu -- just another attempt to bully and humiliate them. "Market closed by that time and streets almost deserted. Route given quite a bit longer . . ." Again Suu flatly ignored the army's command. "Ma Ma said ‘We'll take shorter one.' MP shouting angrily after us as we passed him."

By now the sense of danger was acute. "I quickened pace to get ahead of Ma Ma and boys . . . I managed to get right out in front beside Bo Lwin, our very tall, very dark and very nice cameraman and Win Thein, our hot-tempered bodyguard who was carrying the flag." Meanwhile an army jeep roared up and screeched to a halt at the end of the road down which they were walking.

I kept one eye on Win Thein and one on Captain Myint U, who had halted his jeep at the top of the road. Six or seven soldiers jumped down from the jeep and took positions, three or four kneeling, three standing. The kneeling chaps pointing guns somewhat low, at our midriffs, standing ones guns pointed upwards. Someone on jeep turned on a song about army not breaking up etcetera -- we had heard the same song played from afar this morning as Ma Ma spoke at Danubyu's NLD office.

A furious captain swung around to shout and the music stopped in one bar. I felt a bit giggly at this but only for a moment. Captain Myint U came towards us, one arm outstretched and finger wagging, shouting at us to stop walking in procession.

People react to terrifying situations in unpredictable ways. Ma Thanegi's reaction was to get angry herself. "How the hell did this fool expect our group of forty to walk?" she wrote. "Indian file and ten paces apart? We were just hungry, hot and longing to rest. I thought I had better tell this fool the true meaning of 2/88, and called out to him that I would like to talk with him. I shouted this several times but he didn't hear, he was too intent on shouting to Ma Suu that he would shoot if people blocked road."

Suu now offered a compromise. "Ma Ma called out to us to walk at the sides of the road -- I didn't hear because I myself was still shouting at the captain. But somebody came up beside me and pushed me towards the side of the road."

Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images

 

Peter Popham has toured Burma as an undercover journalist several times since his first visit to the country in 1991. A foreign correspondent and commentator with the Independent newspaper, he covered South Asia (including Burma) for a period in the late 90s. Popham interviewed Suu Kyi when she was released from house arrest in 2002, and met her again in 2011.

THEODORE RONZONI

3:27 AM ET

April 24, 2012

The Lady and the Peacock,

Peter Popham, the author of The Lady and the Peacock, a spellbinding biography of Aung San Suu Kyi, has great timing. Burma and Suu Kyi are in headlines, in large part because of Suu Kyi's compelling personal story and her party's electoral sweep in Burma's recent parliamentary by-elections. After the exciting events of the Arab Spring and their unsettling aftermath, this is a welcome narrative of good triumphing over evil, and of steely determination confronting military rulers determined to keep power.
The arc of Suu Kyi's story is well known around the world. She is the daughter of Aung San, assassinated hero of the Burmese independence struggle; an Oxford student who met and married her late husband Michael Aris and with whom she had two sons; the steadfast and courageous leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), serving multiple years of house arrest; the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights";

 

NOXON MILLER

3:19 AM ET

April 28, 2012

The Lady and the Peacock

No doubts, Peter Popham gives a really clear-sighted appraisal of how the regime's brutal methods have produced this crippling state of fear. Key events include the 1988 violent crackdown on student-led protests and the equally bloody suppression of the monks' 2007 "Saffron Revolution". - Cupones Hostgator

 

NEELY MACE

6:52 AM ET

April 28, 2012

The Lady and the Peacock

Popham's biography of Aung San Suu Kyi is a piece of well-written and carefully crafted research with interviews from the people around her who not only understand her actions, but many of the reasons behind them. These interviews help this biography steal a march on countless predecessors, which - whilst historically and factually accurate - are often anaemic without this human touch.

As always, Suu herself remains forever enigmatic, but that is part of the challenge faced for every biographer. Popham uses his extensive interviews to shed light on the woman trapped within the icon.

I found that some of the details that the author reveals of her earlier "solid and safe and decent" life in Oxford quaintly endearing - when her dreams, whilst doing the washing up, stretched no further than the creditable ambition of launching a chain of public libraries across Burma.

Much has changed in Suu's life since that time, but Popham helps us make sense of it on a much more personal level, which is high praise indeed for any biography on this remarkable lady's life.

 

JOHNNY MELARO

3:01 AM ET

May 4, 2012

The Lady and the Peacock

I think and agree that she could have left Burma at any time during her long periods of detention but didn’t, knowing she would never be allowed back. She chose her country above all else. If this carefully researched and clearly written biography doesn’t satisfactorily explain why, it may be because the question is unanswerable. Suu Kyi is an uncommon woman. This is a revealing account of her life. como eliminar verrugas | como quitar verrugas

 

STEVIE CORREL

3:15 AM ET

May 4, 2012

I agree with you

Totally agree and more than that I think that this is a highly readable biography…a fresh approach, responding to the renewed interest in her since her release, and a fascinating archive – the campaign diary of her dearest confidante turned betrayer. Anyone who haven't read it yet I highly recommend it. how to get rid of tonsil stones

 

LOWELL DEMARC

5:59 AM ET

May 4, 2012

The Lady and the Peacock

Things have moved fast since this book was completed. Nevertheless, it gives a thorough account of Aung San Suu Kyi’s life up to late last year — her birth as the daughter of the man who’d negotiated Myanmar’s independence with the British authorities, her marriage to the Oxford University academic and Tibet expert Michael Aris, her own career at St Hugh’s College in Oxford, her Nobel Peace Prize of 1991, her time in Bhutan (where her husband was for a time tutor to the royal family), the period she spent working at the UN, and so on. Inevitably the years she spent under house arrest in Rangoon were less eventful, but Popham analyses the political developments, such as they were, that took place during those times with aplomb. plans for building a shed

 

DEBORA BENEZE

3:14 AM ET

May 5, 2012

The Lady and the Peacock

I was incredibly excited to read this book.
I had been fascinated by Suu Kyi's story and when I saw this biography in the bookstore I bought it and rushed home to read it.

The prose is UNREADABLE.
After scouring the pages for the Translator's name, I was blown away to find out English is Mr. Popham's native language -- and that he makes a living as a journalist! The editors of this publishing company should be fired. Bad writing is bad writing, but bad editing is unforgivable. | how to prevent tonsil stones

If you won't take my word for it, just read through Amazon's digital copy of the first chapter (the Prologue is bad, but the first chapter is completely nonsensical). The "narrative" meanders inexplicably across two hundred years of history without any attempt at thematic, character, or political coherence. The chronology darts all over the place and reads like poorly taken notes from a textbook. | como quitar verrugas

There is no trajectory to the chapters. Grammar mistakes abound. Popham's run-on-sentence style RUINS a beautiful and inspiring story. I can only conclude that this is a rush-job that is trying to cash in on Suu Kyi's bravery. For shame. | mejor alojamiento web

 

KARAN PADGETTE

8:17 AM ET

May 6, 2012

The Lady and the Peacock

Totally agree with you. I also was expecting more from this book since I was hearing about it for long ago and honestly dint fed my expectations neither. seo