Free at Last!

Saturday evening, at 5:00pm Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, nobel peace prize winner and leader of Burma's democracy movement was released from house arrest, where she has been for 15 of the last 21 years. Until the moment of her release, it was unsure whether the junta would recognize the end of her sentence, and even after the military guard left, a dreadful anticipation remains that they will return with trumped up charges, to keep her from rallying the people.

The release comes less than a week after the elections, which are widely regarded as deeply flawed, having been neither free nor fair. The junta's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party won 80% of the seats. This result rudely dampened the crescendo of hope that had been building during the runup to the vote, however unreasonable an expectation of change might have been.

It is into this milieu that Daw Suu steps; saddled with the heavy mantle of expectation even as the chains of her confinement are removed. Though some in the opposition movement have come to view her as an outdated icon who is no longer in touch with the current realities of the struggle, and therefore ill equipped to advise the movement, she remains for most a potent symbol of opposition and hope. The one figure that could bind disparate political views, ethnicities, and religions, both the country and the nationals, and create the solidarity that will be necessary for a true challenge to the junta, and perhaps more importantly, for the void that would follow.

Its so easy to think of her as an epic heroine, to elevate her to that stratum inhabited only by leaders and moral giants, and in doing so to strip her of her humanity. To forget that she is a 65 year old woman, who has long been separated from her family, and kept isolated from the rest of the world. She has spent years speaking only to her two handmaids and her doctor, while asked to carry the weight of the hope for her country's future. I can't imagine the burden that she carries, or how she continually maintains conviction and determination when asked to give so much. I am in awe of her strength, and her sacrifice. I hope that she is allowed a moment to breathe deeply, and welcome and cherish her freedom.

Tomorrow at noon she will give an address at the NLD office. Hopes dashed by the election results again climb. In post-election Burma, with Suu Kyi released, there's really no telling what's next. Frustration at the election results begins to mix with inspiration at Daw Suu Kyi's release to yet unforeseen ends. In one week, doors have both closed and opened. The playing field has changed. One thing is for sure: hope can't be put back in the box.