Aung San Suu Kyi listed among 100 top ‘Global Thinkers’

by Mungpi
Wednesday, 02 December 2009 19:47

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma’s detained democracy icon and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been listed among the 100 Top Global Thinkers of 2009 by the ‘Foreign Policy,’ a globally renowned US-based magazine featuring writings of world leaders and think tanks.

The National League for Democracy leader was chosen “For being a living symbol of hope in a dark place,” the Foreign Policy said in its first ever annual list of ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’ published in its December issue.

“Taking inspiration from Mohandas Gandhi and Buddhist principles of nonviolence, Aung San Suu Kyi built a mass movement in opposition to the Burmese junta…,” the Foreign Policy said.

The magazine ranked her 26th, alongside other Southeast Asian figures like Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, ranked 32nd, and Indonesian political analyst Rizal Sukma, ranked 92nd.

The list also includes other popular and influential personalities like the US president Barrack Obama, ranked 2nd, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, ranked 74th, and Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, ranked 6th.

“In a famous 1990 speech, Aung San Suu Kyi argued that when "fear is an integral part of everyday existence," political leaders inevitably give in to corruption, and called for a “revolution of the spirit" in Burma,” Foreign Policy said.

Daughter of Burma’s Independence architect, General Aung San, she has been under some form of detention for 14 of the past 20 years.

She was further sentenced to 18 months of detention in August after a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her house to meet her, which the junta alleged, violated the terms of her arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi, since her return to Burma in 1988, has remained the main opposition leader advocating western sanctions against the military rulers.

But in a major shift, she changed her stance on international sanctions against Burma this year, and offered to help the junta's leaders in easing sanctions.

Despite her continuous detention, her efforts to usher in democracy and human rights in Burma has gained recognition and popular support internationally and she has received more than 80 international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and India’s prestigious the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1993.

The Time magazine in 2008, listed Aung San Suu Kyi among the 100 most influential people of the world for the year 2008.