Suu Kyi has a soft spot for military men

In awe of army

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was placed under house arrest for 15 years by military generals, says she could never “hate” them and has a “soft spot” for Burmese military men as she grew up feeling a part of the army family thanks to her father, founder of the country’s army.

Suu Kyi said she was in an “unusual position” since she remembers the adulation her father Aung San received from army personnel and later was forced to spend her life in isolation by the same military. “I grew up with the feeling that I was part of the army family,” Suu Kyi told students at Columbia University here on Saturday.

She said while she does not remember her father much, who was assassinated when she was two, her first memories of him are through the pictures that hung in her house in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where he is dressed in military uniform.

She recalled that soldiers, who revered her parents as their father and mother, used to visit her home frequently.

“Because of my father, I do have a soft spot for men in Burmese military uniform. I could never really hate the generals although I hated what they were doing,” she said to a packed hall of students and faculty.

Gandhi’s influence

Suu Kyi described Mahatma Gandhi among her “greatest sources” of influence, as she encouraged students to read his works. She said she read works by Gandhi and Martin Luther King to keep herself disciplined when she was placed under house arrest by military dictators.