London receives Suu Kyi in style
Aung San Suu Kyi was a housewife when she left Britain to nurse her sick mother 24 years ago but she ended up leading Myanmar’s battle for democracy.
Yesterday she addressed the great and good of Britain’s political establishment in Westminster Hall, hobnobbed with the British Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street, and was received by royalty. She had been serenaded by Irish rock stars and lauded in Latin by Oxford orators earlier in the week.
One of the only real sacrifices she had made was sleep, this most modest of women who spent 15 years under house arrest joked at a press conference with Cameron. The day’s highlight was her address to the joint Houses of Parliament. She was the first foreign woman and first Asian to be accorded that honour, and she received a standing ovation from more than 1000 MPs, peers and other dignitaries.
The Speaker, John Bercow, called her ‘‘a heroine for humanity’’.
She cut a tiny figure in that vast and ancient hall, and her voice was soft, but her audience listened intently as she appealed for help from Britain, Myanmar’s former colonial ruler, in what she called ‘‘the moment of our greatest need’’.
After half a century of military rule her country needed help to build strong democratic institutions and improve education.
It needed humanitarian aid and ‘‘democracy-friendly investment’’ from UK business.
It needed Britain to be a ‘‘watchdog’’ against any backsliding by the regime. Myanmar was just embarking on its journey to a better future but ‘‘so many hills remain to be climbed’’, she said. ‘‘Our own determination can get us so far.
‘‘The support of Britain and of peoples around the world can get us so much further.’’
The speech over, she rushed off to yet another meeting, this one with Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Everyone wants to be seen with this unlikely superstar – especially politicians in need of a little gold dust.