Features

The Voice of Hope

28 Feb 2011

With the peoples of so many totalitarian nations agitating for democracy recently, freedom, struggle and personal sacrifice are issues on everyone’s mind. And they’re issues that are central to The Voice of Hope, a book first published in 1997, with a new edition in 2008, that records a conversation between two worldly people whose lives are deeply connected with Myanmar, the nation formerly known as Burma.

Author Alan Clements lived in a Yangon (aka Rangoon) Buddhist monastery for five years and knows the spiritual life and political history of Burma intimately. He took the rare opportunity to conduct an interview with Burmese opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi when she was released from six years of house arrest in 1995. Both knew that they would probably never see each other again. Subsequently, Clements was banned from entering Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest again in September 2000, only to be released again in November last year.

This book details a long conversation that covers everything from her upbringing in a prominent political family to her religion to her views on world politics. In some 200 pages of dialogue with the author, she also sheds light on the one question that most people would like to ask her: “Where do you get the strength?”

This edition also includes conversations with colleagues and allies of Ang San Suu Kyi including U Gambria, leader of the All Burma Monks’ Alliance; and deputy chairmen of National League for Democracy. Some of them are witnesses to Aung San Suu Kyi’s courage, including her willingness to negotiate with armed soldiers when confronted by them.

This book is not just about politics; it is also a glimpse into an extraordinary mind that reflects the true strength of the human spirit.

Reggie Ho

 

The Voice of Hope

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