Opinion A leader like Suu Kyi

It also brings home a remarkable truth: that true leadership is not about power and war or military intervention and armed revolutions. The greatest figures,the most iconic and inspirational leaders in contemporary history,have been prophets of peace and non-violence,those who used the power of their personalities to defeat their omnipotent enemies. In any list of inspirational leadership,the ones that stand out are Mahatma Gandhi,Nelson Mandela and now Suu Kyi. All three spent many years in jail or under some form of arrest,and were pitted against formidable enemies: the British government at the height of its colonial power,the South African government during the discriminatory Apartheid era,and the all-powerful dictators who isolated Burma,now Myanmar,for over two decades. None felt it necessary to exhort their respective army of supporters to revolt or indulge in violence. Quite the opposite.

Gandhi used his popularity,his idealism and global image to take on the might of the British Empire. All three became prisoners of conscience. Gandhi was sent to jail nine times but he expressed no hatred or bitterness towards the British and it only added to his stature. It did much the same for Mandela,who was arrested for armed resistance to the Apartheid regime,served 27 years in prison but emerged as a global icon. Suu Kyi spent almost two decades under house arrest before her release. In her speech at Westminster,what stood out were her words of praise for Burma’s current president,Thein Sein,for the sense of hope he has given her country.

What it comes down to is the fact that true leaders are not necessarily those who hold political office. In the last few decades,leadership has turned to those who made a positive impact on society,and not those who wreaked devastation and destruction. In earlier centuries,the greatest leaders were Genghis Khan,Napoleon,Alexander the Great,Julius Caesar,all of whom were seen as conquerors and military geniuses. Then we had Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt,wartime heroes and exceptional leaders whose victory in war gave them stature. Revolutionaries became fashionable later — Che Guevara and Fidel Castro,as well as Simon Bolivar,and perhaps the greatest revolutionary of them all,Mao Zedong. Yet,armed struggle was the leitmotif of their leadership.

The modern media has made it possible for today’s leaders to transcend oppression,years of confinement and acquire a global profile and support. It has the power to transcend geography,prison cells and even censorship to reach a global audience. The Internet has become today’s Gatling Gun and AK-47. It was the power of the American media and the world’s best-known photographers who turned Gandhi into an international icon and made his struggle a universal one. The international press did the same for Mandela and now,it is turning the spotlight on Suu Kyi and making her one of the most recognisable political leaders in the world. That is a source of unprecedented strength. The fact that most people on the planet know about her is the primary reason she has been freed by the Burmese authorities and why she is now confident enough to travel abroad and receive the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991 but could not collect in person.

In a world weary of war and terror,those who do not strive for political power but have the ability to stir millions across the world with a vision of a different,better world have become true leaders. It is no coincidence that the greatest influence on Suu Kyi’s life and political struggle has been Mahatma Gandhi. One of her most famous speeches was “Freedom From Fear”,which began: “It is not power that corrupts,but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”