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Brief History of Burma

Prior to 1826, Burma was composed of kingdoms including the Mon, Pyu, Burmese, and Shan. The major capitals were Pagan, Ava, Amapura, and Mandalay. These were all on the Irawaddy River.

In 1826, the British annexed Lower Burma and in 1886, they annexed Upper Burma. At that point, Burma was a proper part of the British Empire and the last king, Thibaw, was exiled. The Japanese occupied Burma from 1941 to 1945.

On January 4, 1948 at 4:00pm, Burma gained independence from Britain and the Union of Burma, a democracy, was formed. General Aung San played a major role in the Burmese independence movement. Unfortunately, he was killed in July, 1947 and never saw Burma an independent nation.

On March 2, 1962, a military coup took control of the country. General Ne Win led the revolt and established the Burmese Way to Socialism. Between 1962 and 1988, Ne Win led the country through dictatorship, and Burma went from one of the world's largest rice exportors and one of the richest nations of Southeast Asia to a nation of poverty.

On August 8, 1988, hundreds of thousands of people marched nationwide to protest the government of Burma and to demand the replacement of the military dictatorship with a civil democracy. The government responded by forming the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Their first action was to gun down and kill thousands of protestors and put many others into prison. With the formation of SLORC, Ne Win stepped down as official leader, but he continued to have significant control behind the scenes. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was one of the important leaders of the opposition.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was born in 1945 to General Aung San and Daw Khin Gyi. Her father was assassinated in 1947 in Burma and her family moved to England shortly thereafter. She was married to Michael Aris, a British citizen in 1972, and they have two sons. Her husband died in England in 1999 without being able to see his wife again. She returned to Burma in March, 1988 intending to stay only a short while. Upon her return to Burma, the people recognized her as the successor to her very popular father, and she gained respect immediately. She was so overwhelmed with the poverty and state of the people that she felt she had to help. She became the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) which was the most popular reform movement in Burma.

In July, 1989, SLORC placed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. Many other NLD leaders were jailed. At the same time, SLORC announced there would be elections fully expecting that intimidation would guarantee their victory. On May 27, 1990 a free election took place and of the 485 parliamentary seats, the NLD won 385 and ethnic minority parties won 65. SLORC's response was to reject the election result and imprison many of the elected officials. To this date, there has been no movement by the military dicatorship to relinquish their control.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. She remained under house arrest until 1995 and continues to remain in Burma fighting for the nation's freedom. She is unwilling to leave the country, and the government continues to restrict her abilty to travel and meet. (For more information on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, see the recent Salon.com article)

She remains under house arrest - with a short interval of limited freedom - and continues to remain in Burma leading the opposition to the military government. She is unwilling to leave the country of her birth.