London: Burmese pro-democracy crusader Aung San Suu Kyi has said she is still ‘fond’ of her country’s army, even though it kept her under house arrest for 15 years.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, she told presenter Kirsty Young that her Buddhist faith had helped her defy Burma’s dictatorship, and later face them when taking a seat in parliament.
During the programme, which was recorded at her home in December, the Nobel Peace Prize winner admitted that ‘she genuinely was fond of the army’.
She said that ‘people did not like her for saying that. There are many who have criticized her for being what they call a poster girl for the army, but she added that the truth was that she is very fond of the army, because she always thought of it as her father’s army.
According to the BBC, she explained that while the army had done ‘terrible’ things in Burma, she hoped it would redeem itself. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest before Burma’s 1990 election.
She had returned to the country from the UK to nurse her mother, and was held after giving a speech to millions of people during protests and political unrest.
Suu Kyi had been living in the UK with her husband, the academic Michael Aris, and their two sons.
The interview also included her feelings about her relationship with him and how they dealt with the Burmese government”s refusal to allow them to see each other, the report added. (ANI)