For her steadiness and her steadfast belief in the powers of democracy and peaceful protest, 40.4% of voters nominated Aung San Suu Kyi as Asia´s Online Hero for 2004, organized by Time Asia. In 1990 she was awarded the Rafto Prize, and in 1991 she was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. She remains the only living recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who is still incarcerated. (5-OCT-04)
The daughter of Aung San, an independence leader who helped free Burma from colonialism under the British in 1948, Aung San Suu Kyi rose to the fore of the pro-democracy movement, only to see it violently suppressed in the early 1990s by Burma´s ruling military junta.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the time since then under house arrest, locked up in her family home on University Avenue in the Burmese capital of Rangoon, but remains a beacon of hope for her people. Hundreds of readers wrote in to nominate Aung San Suu Kyi as Asia´s Online Hero, many praising her courage and integrity. “She has remained determined and dedicated to freedom even under circumstances most of can´t even imagine,” wrote one reader. “Having traveled to many parts of Burma, I was amazed at the respect, inspiration and hope she brought to Burmese people everywhere,” added a visitor. Another reader lauded that her long-running, one-sided struggle with Burma´s generals, noting that “she is only one citizen, whom 450,000 strong soldiers are afraid of.” As one Burmese reader summed up, Aung San Suu Kyi “is the hero of our nation.”
