Freedom from Fear
by Aung San Suu Kyi

      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. Most Burmese
are familiar with the four a-gati ,
the four kinds of corruption.
Chanda-gati  , corruption induced
by desire, is deviation from the
right path in pursuit of bribes or
for the sake of those one loves.
Dosa-gati  is taking the wrong
path to spite those against
whom one bears ill will, and
maga-gati  is aberration due to
ignorance. But perhaps the
worst of the four is byaya-gati ,
for not only does bhaya , fear,

stifle and slowly destroy all
sense of right and wrong, it so
often lies at the root of the other
three kinds of corruption.
      Just as chanda-gati , when
not the result of sheer avarice,
can be caused by fear of want or
fear of losing the goodwill of
those one loves, so fear of being
surpassed, humiliated or
injured in some way can
provide the impetus for ill will.
And it would be difficult to
dispel ignorance unless there is
freedom to pursue the truth
unfettered by fear. With so close
a relationship between fear and
corruption it is little wonder
that in any society where fear is
rife corruption in all forms
becomes deeply entrenched.
      Public dissatisfaction with
economic hardships has been
seen as the chief cause of the

movement for democracy in
Burma, sparked off by the
student demonstrations of 1988.
It is true that years of
incoherent policies, inept official
measures, burgeoning inflation
and falling real income had
turned the country into an
economic shambles. But it was
more than the difficulties of
eking out a barely acceptable
standard of living that has
eroded the patience of a
traditionally good-natured,
quiescent people--it was also
the humiliation of a way of life
disfigured by corruption and
fear. The students were
protesting not just against the
death of their comrades but
against the denial of their right
to life by a totalitarian regime
which deprived the present of
meaningfulness and held out no

hope for the future. And
because the students' protests
articulated the frustrations of
the people at large, the
demonstrations quickly grew
into a nationwide movement.
Some of its keenest supporters
were businessmen who had
developed the skills and
contacts necessary not only to
survive but to prosper within
the system. But their affluence
offered them no genuine sense
of security or fulfillment, and
they could not but see that if
they and their fellow citizens,
regardless of economic status,
were to achieve a worthwhile
existence, an accountable
administration was at least a
necessary if not a sufficient
condition. The people of Burma
had wearied of a precarious
state of passive apprehension

where they were 'as water in the
cupped hands' of the powers to
be.

Glass splinters, the smallest
with its sharp, glinting power to
defend itself against hands that
try to crush, could be seen as a
vivid symbol of the spark of
courage that is an essential
attribute of those who would
free themselves from the grip of
oppression. Bogyoke Aung San
regarded himself as a
revolutionary and searched
tirelessly for answers to the
problems that beset Burma
during her times of trial. He

exhorted the people to develop
courage: 'Don't just depend on
the courage and intrepidity of
others. Each and every one of
you must make sacrifices to
become a hero possessed of
courage and intrepidity. Then
only shall we all be able to enjoy
true freedom.'
      The effort necessary to
remain uncorrupted in an
environment where fear is an
integral part of everyday
existence is not immediately
apparent to those fortunate
enough to live in states
governed by the rule of law.
Just laws do not merely prevent
corruption by meeting out
impartial punishment to
offenders. They also help to
create a society in which people
can fulfil the basic requirements
necessary for the preservation

of human dignity without
recourse to corrupt practices.
Where there are no such laws,
the burden of upholding the
principles of justice and
common decency falls on the
ordinary people. It is the
cumulative effect of their
sustained effort and steady
endurance which will change a
nation where reason and
conscience are warped by fear
into one where legal rules exist
to promote man's desire for
harmony and justice while
restraining the less desirable
destructive traits in his nature.
      In an age when immense
technological advances have
created lethal weapons which
could be, and are, used by the
powerful and the unprincipled
to dominate the weak and the
helpless, there is a compelling

need for a closer relationship
between politics and ethics at
both the national and
international levels. The
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights of the United
Nations proclaims that 'every
individual and every organ of
society' should strive to
promote the basic rights and
freedoms to which all human
beings regardless of race,
nationality or religion are
entitled. But as long as there are
governments whose authority is
founded on coercion rather than
on the mandate of the people ,
and interest groups which place
short-term profits above long-
term peace and prosperity,
concerted international action to
protect and promote human
rights will remain at best a
partially realized struggle.

There will continue to be areas
of struggle where victims of
oppression have to draw on
their own inner resources to
defend their inalienable rights
as members of the human
family.
      The quintessential
revolution is that of the spirit,
born of an intellectual
conviction of the need for
change in those mental attitudes
and values which shape the
course of a nation's
development. A revolution
which aims merely at changing
official policies and institutions
with a view to an improvement
in material conditions has little
chance of genuine success.
Without a revolution of the
spirit, the forces which
produced the iniquities of the
old order would continue to be

operative, posing a constant
threat to the process of reform
and regeneration. It is not
enough merely to call for
freedom, democracy and
human rights. There has to be a
united determination to
persevere in the struggle, to
make sacrifices in the name of
enduring truths, to resist the
corrupting influences of desire,
ill will, ignorance and fear.
      Saints, it has been said, are
the sinners who go on trying. So
free men are the oppressed who
go on trying and who in the
process make themselves fit to
bear the responsibilities and to
uphold the disciplines which
will maintain a free society.
Among the basic freedoms to
which men aspire that their
lives might be full and
uncramped, freedom from fear

stands out as both a means and
an end. A people who would
build a nation in which strong,
democratic institutions are
firmly established as a
guarantee against state-induced
power must learn to liberate
their own minds from apathy
and fear.
      Always one to practise
what he preached, Aung San
himself constantly
demonstrated courage--not just
the physical sort but the kind
that enabled him to speak the
truth, to stand by his word, to
accept criticism, to admit his
faults, to correct his mistakes, to
respect the opposition, to parley
with the enemy and to let the
people be the judge of his
worthiness as a leader. It is for
such moral courage that he will
always be loved and respected

in Burma--not merely as a
warrior hero but as the
inspiration and conscience of
the nation. The words used by
Jawaharlal Nehru to describe
Mahatma Gandhi could well be
applied to Aung San: 'The
essence of his teaching was
fearlessness and truth, and
action allied to these, always
keeping the welfare of the
masses in view.'
      Gandhi, that great apostle
of non-violence, and Aung San,
the founder of a national army,
were very different
personalities, but as there is an
inevitable sameness about the
challengers of authoritarian rule
anywhere at any time, so there
is a similarity in the intrinsic
qualities of those who rise up to
meet the challenge. Nehru, who
considered the instillation of

courage in the people of India
one of Gandhi's greatest
achievements, was a political
modernist, but as he assessed
the needs for a twentieth-
century movement for
independence, he found himself
looking back to the philosophy
of ancient India: 'The greatest
gift for an individual or nation .
. . was abhaya , fearlessness, not
merely bodily courage but
absence of fear from the mind.'
      Fearlessness may be a gift
but perhaps more precious is
the courage acquired through
endeavour, courage that comes
from cultivating the habit of
refusing to let fear dictate one's
actions, courage that could be
described as 'grace under
pressure'--grace which is
renewed repeatedly in the face
of harsh, unremitting pressure.

      Within a system which
denies the existence of basic
human rights, fear tends to be
the order of the day. Fear of
imprisonment, fear of torture,
fear of death, fear of losing
friends, family, property or
means of livelihood, fear of
poverty, fear of isolation, fear of
failure. A most insidious form
of fear is that which
masquerades as common sense
or even wisdom, condemning as
foolish, reckless, insignificant or
futile the small, daily acts of
courage which help to preserve
man's self-respect and inherent
human dignity. It is not easy for
a people conditioned by fear
under the iron rule of tthe
principle that might is right to
free themselves of the
eneverating miasma of fear. Yet
even under the most crushing

state machinery courage rises
up again and again, for fear is
not the natural state of civilized
man.
      The wellspring of courage
and endurance in the face of
unbridled power is generally a
firm belief in the sanctity of
ethical principles combined
with a historical sense that
despite all setbacks the
condition of man is set on an
ultimate course for both
spiritual and material
advancement. It is his capacity
for self-improvement and self-
redemption which most
distinguishes man from the
mere brute. At the root of
human responsibility is the
concept of perfection, the urge
to achieve it, the intelligence to
find a path towards it, and the
will to follow the path if not to

limitations and environmental
impediments. It is man's vision
of a world fit for rational,
civilized humanity which leads
him to dare and to suffer to
build societies free from want
and fear. Concepts such as
truth, justice and compassion
cannot be dismissed as trite
when these are often the only
bulwarks which stand against
ruthless power.

        This essay was copied, without
permission, from Aung San Suu Kyi,
Freedom from Fear . London: Penguin
Books, 1991.