Mathida (Sanchaung) - A letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

( 1) Sue and Michael from Oxford

I first met Michael Eric 37 years ago. In the spring of 1974, I was studying Tibetan at the Institute of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), next to the British Museum. At that time, I wanted to spend the rest of my life in a Tibetan school. The first time I met Michael was in our classroom. Michael, who was a good teacher of Tibetan, was invited to be a private tutor to the 26-year-old son of the King of Bhutan, who was at that time actively working to modernize his country.

I liked Mike the moment I saw him. He looked like an old man from the Himalayas, with messy hair and a rough, rugged appearance. No one would call him handsome, but his young son would shout, “Daddy is handsome,” and protect Mike. In fact, he was so kind and loving that people felt very comfortable with him. He looked like a white Buddhist monk who was very strict with the rules. He had a small hole in his pants and was so unattached to material things that he didn’t care if his thighs were cold. When he first met me, he said, “My wife is from Burma,” with bright eyes. I didn’t expect that that brief encounter would last for more than thirty years.

In the summer of 1975, my husband moved from London to Oxford from a research position at the London School of Economics to St. Anthony's College. We rented the top floor of a house on Woodstock Road. I still went to school in London by train and tube from Oxford.

On the corner of Corn Market Street and Ship Street in Oxford, there is a wooden cottage that is often seen in fairy tales. It is the place where the coin-operated washing machines are located. Michael always comes out of it with a large load of washed clothes on his shoulder. This is where Michael and I meet for the second time. We say goodbye for a moment and then say goodbye and see you later.

The following week, my wife and I invited Michael and his family to our Halifax home. A woman with thick, dark hair pulled up in a bun pushed a stroller into the club. I couldn’t breathe as I noticed her beauty and her ready-to-take-on-the-challenge attitude. Behind her, Michael walked in, still carrying the same large bag he had brought with him when we first met, smiling like a Japanese god.

Unfortunately, Michael and his family have moved to Oxford. They live in a small farmhouse in the village of Sunningwell, southeast of Oxford. There are only a few other farmhouses and a small shop there. So they have to go to Oxford to do their shopping and do their laundry. Their neighbours have cars, but Sue and Michael are environmentalists and Michael is no expert on machinery. So their only means of transport is the daily bus service.

It is customary to go to the city center to buy everything you need every day. But why do you have to go to the city center to wash your clothes? English houses are built after a large-scale project for the entire area, so they are considered ancient and historical houses. But it is not convenient for the people who live there. Most houses have toilets and bathrooms on the upper floors, and due to the problem of sewage systems, it is difficult to place a family washing machine. At that time, family washing machines were already widespread in many countries around the world. For housewives, a washing machine was a very precious treasure. The problem was that the coin-operated laundry business was also purposefully established. (Now this business is a big business.) So I relied on the coin-operated laundry machines that were sure to be on every corner of the city. Now that shop has become an eyeglass shop, and finally an iPhone shop. Anyway, because I met Michael, that laundry shop is a memory. From that meeting to this day, Michael, Isn't it true that Su and his son are soulmates?

( 2) Michael's love at first sight

I never learned from Su about how Su and Michael formed their relationship. After Su was placed under house arrest, I finally got to know their love story bit by bit from Mike. I also followed Michael's words and Su's biography.

Su was only two years old when her father was assassinated, so she didn’t really understand the assassination or the grief it caused. Su didn’t remember her father very well. But Su told me about a scene she would never forget. It was when she was a child, she would sit at the top of the long staircase in front of her house every evening, waiting for her father to return in his military uniform, and when he saw him, he would lift him up in his arms, kiss his cheeks, and hold him tightly. Even as she recounted this, she could still feel her father’s touch, and that scene was still in her mind. As I listened to her story, I realized that Su was talking about the person she loved. I also understood Su’s feelings for her soft, plump boyfriend, Mike.

On January 4, 1948, Burma gained independence. Suu Kyi, Daw Khin Kyi, participated in the first election held under U Nu's government and became a representative. She fulfilled her responsibilities as a mother and father, and on the other hand, she became an active politician in U Nu's cabinet. I heard from a Japanese friend who knew Daw Khin Kyi that she was a woman who could make decisions and react quickly, and who was able to inspire and mobilize the public. Suu Kyi was raised by such a strict mother and learned traditional Burmese values.

Despite the British rule, Burmese political leaders were unable to resolve ethnic conflicts and secessionist movements. As a quick fix, they tried to continue with the infrastructure that the British had left behind. Education was also adopted in the British way. Thus, children from wealthy families continued to study in missionary schools, which were once forbidden because they did not speak Burmese, but in those schools, hatred of foreigners (especially the English) was also prevalent. Suu Kyi began attending kindergarten at the San Francisco Convent School at the age of four.

After the assassination of General Aung San, another tragedy for the Suu Kyi family was the death of their second son, Aung San Lin, in the same pond in their home. Thus, Daw Khin Kyi moved to her current home, 54-56, University Avenue Road, at the request of the government at the time.

In 1957, Su was in middle school at the English Methodist School. Almost every book says that Su was a very quiet student and always read alone. That's true. Books were Su's best friends, and they're still true.

In 1960, Suu Kyi was appointed as the Ambassador of India to Burma. Suu Kyi attended St. Mary's Convent in Delhi from 1960-61. From 1962 to 1963, she studied political science at Sri Ram College, Delhi.

On 2 March 1962, General Ne Win seized power in a coup. In 1959, Daw Khin Kyi sent her eldest son, Aung San Oo, to England with a British diplomat. Aung San Oo moved from Dover to London and studied at Imperial College. In 1960, Daw Khin Kyi and Suu Kyi were reunited with the family of Sir Paul Gorbut, an old friend who had once served as the British Empire’s High Commissioner to India. When the Gorbut family returned to England in 1964, Daw Khin Kyi arranged for Suu Kyi to go to Oxford. Suu Kyi lived with the Gorbut family in Chelsea, London. After Sir Paul Gorbut’s death, his wife, Lady Patricia Gorbut, took care of Suu Kyi and their two sons. She was, in effect, an English mother to Suu Kyi.

The Gorbuts and their wife had four children, the eldest and youngest being girls, and the middle two being twin boys. David and Christopher Gorbuts attended a Roman Catholic school and had twin boys, Anthony and Michael Erics, born on March 27, 1946. The school they attended was prestigious, and they lived in the same dormitory from the ages of 12 to 18. After high school, David went to Oxford University, while Christopher, Anthony and Michael went to Durham University. From then on, Michael and Christopher became lifelong friends.

One day, Christopher invited Mike to his house. That’s where Su and Michael first met. Michael had been interested in Asia since high school, and he was so obsessed with Tibetan that he studied it on his own in the teacher’s office. The teacher made him stand up in class and called his parents, but Mike’s mother was very protective of her son and tried to help him learn Tibetan. “Michael is my proud son. He has never said anything behind his back his whole life,” his mother once told me.

Michael was captivated by the mysterious beauty of an Asian girl. It was love at first sight. “Noriko, I fell in love with Su at first sight,” Michael once told me, his eyes widening as he recalled the days of the past. They had first met in 1967-68.

Su graduated from St. Hugh's College and Michael from Durham University. Michael confessed that he loved Su, but Su said that she would wait. "At that time, there were many people who liked Su. But I waited patiently. It took Su four years," Michael said with a smile, which meant that the wait was worth it. However, Ma Than, who was like Su's aunt, said that Su was not interested in boys at that time.