ABSTRACT
Nelson Mandela the South African freedom fighter was first demonized then sanctified by international opinion. The reputation of Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma (Myanmar) went the other way from sanctification to demonization. In 1991 she was given a Nobel Peace Prize, the same honour Mandela got two years later. Hans-Bernd Zollner draws a brilliant comparison. He says the West saw Suu Kyi's struggle against the Burmese military regime as being like the Beauty and the Beast. British saw Burma as a strictly functional conservatory bolted on to a more magnificent edifice, the Indian Raj, within which Burma was incorporated, losing its sovereign identity. For whatever reason, Aung San Suu Kyi preferred to remain in government and conform, in public at least, to the official line laid down by the military and monastic hierarchy, which is that the Buddhist people of Burma were under threat and must defend themselves.
