RECENTLY I ran into Dalton Tanonaka, the former Honolulu TV and newspaper reporter who is now anchoring the NBC Asia Evening News in Hong Kong. He is the author of (OK, Dalton, here's your free plug) the new softcover, available in bookstores now, "Dateline Tanonaka: From Island Life to the New Suzie Wong." A chat with ‘Burma’s
Lady of Courage’Most of the book is filled with good-fun fodder. For example, Tanonaka muses about "finally" getting married after being a 40-year-old lifelong bachelor, munching on the crunchy delicacy known as deep-fried locust in Manila, and getting used to life in Hong Kong ("Try to imagine 6 million people in a geographic area smaller than Kauai. Factor in several dialects of Chinese, numerous accents of English and traffic messes that make the H-1 look like the reef runway at midnight, and you can imagine the adjustment problems.")
But one of the more serious chapters involves Tanonaka's telephone interview with the woman he calls "Burma's Lady of Courage."
Aung San Suu Kyi is the Nobel Peace Prize-winning heroine who is fighting the repressive military rulers of Burma. Under house arrest for several years and now under renewed restrictions, she refuses to be silenced by the illegal government.
Suu Kyi is a modern-day heroine of international proportions. So when Tanonaka actually got her on the phone during a live broadcast in June 1996, he immediately asked how she was faring in her "relentless fight for human rights in an oppressive society."
DT: "Miss Suu Kyi . . . Many people close to you - your friends, colleagues, supporters - have been detained. Are you worried about your freedom? Are you OK?"
SK: "I'm alright, I'm not worried about my freedom. I'm a free person. I was free when I was under detention because my mind was free. And my mind will remain free."
DT: "Is there anything you . . . would like to say to those who support your efforts and the efforts of your party?
SK: "We think the time has come for everybody to accept that the present military regime has to change its ways. They keep saying that they're working for democracy. I think now that it must be recognized that they do not really want democracy.
"They've got to be made to understand that democracy is the best way for everybody in Burma, for them and for us. What we want is national reconciliation achieved through genuine political dialogue . . . which would be good for them as well as for us."
BRACE yourself, Dalton. Last week, an Associated Press story described the rise of "new revolutionaries" in Burma - hundreds of university students who have taken to the streets. But this new wave of protesters does not identify with the national League for Democracy or its famous leader.
"We are not concerned with the NLD or . . . Suu Kyi," affirms Zah Mazui Nu, a 22-year-old economics student. "We are not our elder brothers. We are a new generation."
Apparently these youthful demonstrators are more worried about student rights than pursuing the larger issue of democracy. They insist their main goal is the formation of an "independent student council to negotiate their grievances with the government."
Huh? Isn't being a little free like being a little pregnant? Either you are or you're not.
Students, only true and total democracy can free your country's minds, heart and soul. How about starting with Burma's first lady of courage?