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Suu Kyi's eventful 21 years in the political spotlight

Irrawaddy - June 19, 2009

Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi spent her birthday on Friday as she has done for 14 previous years – in detention. Since her arrival on Burma's political scene in August 1988, Suu Kyi has known only seven years of freedom. The Irrawaddy looks back over those 21 eventful years...

August 24, 1988

Aung San Suu Kyi appears for the first time on the Burmese political scene, addressing an audience at Rangoon General Hospital while the country is in the grip of martial law.

"It was Daw Suu's first appearance in public and we thought she wouldn't be able to speak Burmese fluently because she had spent years in England," said Moe Thu, a well-known writer and former NLD executive committee member. Suu Kyi had surprised them all by her fluency in the Burmese language, he recalled.

August 26, 1988

Suu Kyi addresses crowds estimated to number 500,000 at mass rallies in front of Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda and announces her decision to join the struggle for democracy.

"This great struggle has arisen from the intense and deep desire of the people for a fully democratic parliamentary system," she declares.

September 27, 1988

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is founded by Suu Kyi and several of her closest colleagues, including Win Tin, later to become Burma's longest-serving political prisoner. "We [NLD] worked for the country and for the people," recalled Win Tin.

December 27, 1988

Suu Kyi's mother Khin Kyi, widow of Burma's independence hero Aung San, dies. The huge funeral procession turns into a peaceful protest against military rule. Some senior members of the ruling military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, attend the funeral. Suu Kyi calls on senior generals to enter into a dialogue.

April 5, 1989

Suu Kyi confronts army soldiers at gunpoint while campaigning in Danu Byu Township, Irrawaddy Delta. An army major intervenes, orders the soldiers to lower their weapons – and saves Suu Kyi from possibly being gunned down.

July 20, 1989

Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest for the first time, under a martial law order allowing her to be detained without charge or trial for six years. Several students are taken from her Rangoon lakeside home for questioning at the Military Intelligence Interrogation Center.

May 27, 1990

Suu Kyi's NLD scores an unexpectedly resounding victory in a general election, winning 392 of the 485 seats contested.

December 10, 1991

Suu Kyi is awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Students hail her achievement in demonstrations at Rangoon University on December 10-11. More than 200 are arrested and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.

"We demonstrated peacefully for honoring our leader who was detained, and we called for our leader's release, but as a result, more than 200 students were arrested unfairly," said a protester who took part and was given a long prison sentence.

September 20, 1994

The junta leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, and the then Prime Minister, Gen Khin Nyunt, hold their first meeting with Suu Kyi, calling for national reconciliation and dialogue.

July 10, 1995

Suu Kyi is released after six years of house arrest.

March 13, 1996

Suu Kyi is forced to cancel plans to attend the trial in Mandalay of comedian Par Par Lay and members of his Moustache Brothers troupe after the train which was to have taken her there develops a mysterious technical fault. The Moustache Brothers got to know Suu Kyi in performances at her Rangoon home.

November 9, 1996

A vehicle carrying Suu Kyi and other senior NLD members is attacked by some 200 government-sponsored thugs armed with knives and clubs on the Kabaraye Pagoda Road.

Suu Kyi spends several days in her car after her way is blocked by security troops as she tries to leave Rangoon to meet NLD officials in Irrawaddy Division. A five-day standoff ends on July 29 when the authorities seize the car and drive her back home against her will.

September 16, 1998

Suu Kyi, her NLD and four ethnic parties found the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP).

August 24, 2000

Security forces block Suu Kyi's way in Rangoon's Dala Township as she and NLD vice chairman Tin Oo attempt to travel to Kungyangone and Kawmu townships. A nine-day standoff ends on September 2 after a force of nearly 200 riot police compel Suu Kyi to return home.

September 21, 2000

Another attempt by Suu Kyi to travel by train to Mandalay, together with NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo and several other NLD party members, is blocked by security forces. Suu Kyi is arrested and held under house arrest until May 6, 2002.

May 30, 2003

A convoy carrying Suu Kyi and other senior NLD members is attacked by members of the pro-regime Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) near Depayin Township in Sagaing Division. The regime reports that four people are killed and 50 injured in the attack, but the true number is believed to be much higher. Suu Kyi and Tin Oo are taken into what the regime calls "protective custody." All senior NLD officers are placed under house arrest, party offices across the country are closed and the party's phone lines are cut.

September 22, 2007

Suu Kyi is seen in public for the first time since the start of her current period of house arrest when she goes to the gate of her compound and greets a huge crowd of monks who led demonstrations that are brutally suppressed by the regime. The monks gather in front of her home, chanting the "Metta Sutta" (the Buddha's words on loving kindness).

May 14, 2009

Suu Kyi is arrested and taken from her home to Insein Prison to face trial in a special court there after an American intruder swims to her lakeside residence.

May 20, 2009

Suu Kyi meets diplomats from Russia, Singapore and Thailand who are among observers allowed to attend one session of her trial. One Western diplomat permitted into the courtroom reports she is strong and in good spirits.

[Compiled by Zarny Win and Min Lwin.]

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