She may be in prison, but the birthdays of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s imprisoned democracy leader, are never marked in silence.
On June 19 every year, well-wishers at home and around the world commemorate the occasion with renewed expressions of solidarity with “The Lady”, whom many see as a symbol of hope and resilience for a beleaguered nation.
This year, as she turns 79, pro-democracy activists and revolutionary forces are holding a flower strike under the theme of “Roses That Never Bow Down” to honor her unwavering defiance of the successive military regimes that have repeatedly held her captive, first in the period following the 1988 uprising, and most recently since the 2021 coup.
Many people, from rural areas to big cities, both inside Myanmar and among the Myanmar diaspora, as well as international friends around the world, continue to celebrate her birthday and shower her with birthday wishes calling for freedom and wishing good health for the detained leader, who on Wednesday spent her fourth birthday in solitude under detention since the 2021 coup.
This is the 19th birthday she has spent in detention all together, including those she spent during almost 15 years under house arrest under previous regimes until late 2010.
Prominent protest leader Dr. Tayzar San said that for more than three decades, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has steadfastly upheld her belief in democracy, human rights and resistance against military dictatorship.
“I see her as a national leader who resists without bowing down, which is also why she is honored worldwide as the ‘Steel Rose’ for her resilience, and is deeply respected and loved by the people [of Myanmar],” he said.
Ko Nan Lin from the Anti-Junta Alliance Yangon (AJAY) echoed that sentiment, saying that while there are people who like and dislike her, it is a fact that she remains an icon of Myanmar’s struggle for democracy.
“She has consistently stood together with the people throughout her journey and this is why the public continues to believe in and support her,” he said, citing her consistent landslide electoral victories from the 1990 vote to the 2020 election.
Despite disagreeing with some of her government’s policies, including the handling of the Rohingya issue in 2017, he personally respects her for her genuine love for the nation and dedication to democracy.
“She has shown remarkable resilience as a woman and a leader. She is a leader who possesses both goodwill and wisdom,” he said.
‘The biggest enemy of the junta’
Salai Isaac Khen, who served as a minister in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy-led government, said those with the greatest understanding of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s status as an icon of the democratic struggle in the country are the military generals.
“She still remains as the biggest obstacle for the junta,” he said. “The junta knows that they will lose everything if they release her, as she continues to enjoy the unprecedented support of the general public. And thus they hold her as a hostage.”
The military remains tightlipped about her whereabouts, and has held her incommunicado since their kangaroo court handed her a total sentence of 27 years’ imprisonment.
The junta’s unjust imprisonment of her shows that there is no freedom, justice or democracy in Myanmar, the ethnic Chin politician added.
Given this situation, people hold campaigns to mark her birthday and honor her as a way of ensuring that the revolution maintains its heart and does not become cold-blooded, he said.
The Chin community in India also marked her birthday Wednesday with celebrations in India’s border state of Mizoram and the capital New Delhi.
“Most importantly, when we say she is the icon of the struggle, she also shines a light for over 20,000 civilians, [including] women and young people, detained in different prisons since the coup,” Salai Isaac Khen said.
Participants in Wednesday’s flower strike said it also aimed to honor the over 20,000 political prisoners unjustly arrested by the junta who remain behind bars.
Many people at home and abroad embraced the call for the flower strike on the eve of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday and on Wednesday by wearing or holding flowers to show their support for a civilian leader who almost always wore flowers before she was jailed. Campaigners uploaded photos of people holding flowers and sporting her hairstyle.
European human rights campaigner Igor Blazevic told The Irrawaddy that people celebrate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday because they genuinely respect and appreciate the role she has played in keeping Myanmar’s democratic dream alive for so long and the sacrifice she has made.
Besides, the campaigner said, people also want to show their defiance of hated coup leader Min Aung Hlaing.
He, along with members of the Myanmar community in the Czech Republic, and other Czech friends of Myanmar democracy, gathered to mark Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday at an event in Prague on June 15.
Blazevic also posted a picture of himself holding flowers, joining the strike called by the Myanmar revolutionary forces.
“Celebrating her birthday with flowers is an act of courage and defiance in the face of murderers. It is a rebellious stand and a message to Min Aung Hlaing that ‘This is whom we love and you are the one whom we despise. And you can do nothing about that, you ugly monstrous murderer,” he said.
Since the coup, the junta has arrested those wearing, holding, selling or buying flowers on the day of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday in an effort to prevent people from celebrating the day, but it has always failed.
Birthday wishes for detained leader
Ko Shaba, an ethnic Kachin activist, said he wished for the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi so that she could lead the public at this important time, as she had before.
He said that while in his view she showed too much favor to the Myanmar military, while showing less understanding of ethnic issues and not fully engaging with ethnic groups when she led the government, he respects Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for her efforts in successfully mobilizing people around the country to join the cause of transforming the country into a democratic nation. Thanks to those efforts, he said, the country was able to get a taste of democracy, though it wasn’t fully achieved.
One of her government’s priorities was to keep the army out of Myanmar’s politics by amending the military-drafted constitution.
“There is no doubting her efforts to bring democracy, and that is what we will always respect and value her for. And thus I wish for her immediate release from detention,” Ko Shaba said.
Yay Bawel, a leader of Octopus, an underground anti-junta youth organization in Yangon that has staged flash mob protests, said the people will never forget the birthday of a “people’s leader” like Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, just as they have never forgotten the birthday of her father—the country’s independence hero General Aung San. The 32-year-old independence leader was assassinated on July 19, 1947.
“As a birthday wish, may DASSK [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi], who is loved by the public, be healthy and happy, and released from detention at the soonest.”
Alinn, a Mandalay resident in her 20s, also joined the flower strike by uploading a picture of herself wearing red roses on social media.
The former political prisoner, who was jailed for two years for participating in peaceful protests against the military coup in 2021, also recorded a revolutionary song to mark the respected leader’s birthday, together with other former female political prisoners.
“Even in my 20s, it was very hard to survive in prison. And unlike her, I had the chance to contact my family regularly. I can’t even imagine being in her shoes, held in solitary confinement at the age of my grandmother,” Alinn said, expressing worries for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s health.
“I wanna thank her for resisting to date and wanna wish her a long life and good health and that she may witness the victory of the revolution.”
Blazevic said freedom will not come for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi unless the revolution against the junta succeeds.
“The only thing one can wish for her on the occasion of her birthday is for the revolution to succeed in toppling the regime so that she can be released, which would also mean that tens of thousands will be able to meet their loved ones, and hundreds of thousands—millions—will be able to go back to their villages and cities.”
