Interviews with Khin Lay
Burma
Heroes
“If we don’t struggle for our democracy and human rights, the next generation will be worse off.”
Transcript
My belief is that, you know, if we do not struggle for our democracy and human rights, the next generation will be worse than ours. So we should take such kind of responsibility for the next generation to be better men of our country. If we don’t do this, our country will be under the military regime and the situation is very bad. So that’s why we should to, not for me, for all the people in our country, even though the military. So we should struggle and we should fight for democracy that I believe like that. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi [Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of National League for Democracy (NLD). She led the NLD to victory in the 1990 elections, but the military government ignored the results and put her under house arrest. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991] is one of my heroes and there are many other heroes in my life like Mahatma Gandhi [the leader of India’s independence movement who inspired nonviolent movements for civil rights and freedom worldwide].
And also there are some – how can I say – Indira Gandhi [India’s third prime minister and one of the country’s most prominent historical figures], so are really inspiring being women leaders in politics or like that for Indira Gandhi. And I really appreciate Mahatma Gandhi. It’s peaceful, nonviolence political actions. That’s why we try to – we believe that if we keep fighting in peacefully, we should get our victory some day. I believe like that. We never try to take revenge on the military who beat us or who put us into jail. We never try to – we never try to get revenge on them. We never say a bad word to them. So we understand that their rule– they do it with fear, we do it with our belief.
About Khin Lay
Khin Lay is a Burmese civil society and political activist. She was born in Yangon in 1971.
She pursued a career in education, hoping to be a university professor. That ambition changed after Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s democracy movement, inspired Khin Lay to take an active role in freeing her country. In 1995, Khin Lay joined Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
As a member of NLD, Khin Lay endured constant surveillance by the regime. In 2000, she was arrested by authorities for her involvement with the party. After five days of interrogation in which she was blindfolded and deprived of sleep, Khin Lay spent four months in Insein Prison, a facility notorious for its deplorable conditions and use of torture. She was released in 2001.
More recently, Khin Lay has focused on strengthening women’s rights and building a more robust civil society. She founded the Triangle Women Support Group, an organization dedicated to empowering Burmese women, developing their political and professional skills, as well as encouraging greater participation in public life. She believes that fostering a new generation of strong, female leaders is a key component to Burma’s democratization.