Lives of Two Nobel Laureates
By Nehginpao Kipgen
Many Americans awoke with surprise on October 9 when the five-member Norwegian Nobel committee awarded the 2009 peace prize to the 44th President of the United States of America.
In fact, the president himself said he was ``surprised and deeply humbled'' and does not deserve to be in the company of many other transformative figures who have been honored.
By receiving the prize after less than a year in the White House, Obama has become the fourth U.S. president to have been honored by the Nobel committee. The other three recipients were: Jimmy Carter in 2002, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
The Nobel committee said it awarded the prize to Obama for his ``extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.'' He is basically being awarded for the goals yet to be achieved.
Though there are pockets of criticism and reservations on the selection, the Nobel committee was convinced that it was too important to ignore Obama's emphasis on disarmament and diplomacy.
The committee was reportedly buoyed by Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world, laid out in a speech in Prague in April and at the United Nations in September.
During his visit to Moscow in July, President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to work out a new limit on delivery vehicles for nuclear warheads of between 500 and 1,100. The two leaders also agreed to reduce warheads from the current 1,700-2,200 to as low as 1,500.
In his historic address to the Muslim world from Cairo in June, Obama tried to reinvigorate the relationship between the United States and the Muslims.
He offered a new beginning for a relationship based upon mutual interest, mutual respect, and the common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
By deciding to end the unpopular war in Iraq and shifting the U.S. focus to al-Qaida fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Obama has earned greater international support, especially from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.
While the prize may add to his international image, president Obama's popularity at home has been declining in recent months. The Oct. 1 to 5 Associated Press poll showed that 56 percent of Americans approved of his job performance.
An Oct. 17 to 20 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that only half of all Americans backed his handling of foreign policy. According to a Gallup poll, Obama had an 83-percent approval rating in January.
At the other end of the world, there is another Nobel Peace Laureate who has spent her life under very different circumstances.
Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize ``for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights'' in 1991. Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention since July 1989.
During the general election in 1990, her National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 of the 485 seats contested in the 492-member assembly. The military-backed National Unity Party (formerly known as the Burma Socialist Program Party) secured only 10 seats. Despite the resounding victory, the party was never allowed to form a government.
Obama was privileged to be born in a country where fundamental democratic principles are respected, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The 2009 Nobel Laureate could freely organize and run for a Senate seat, and later vied for the presidency. In contrast, the 1991 Laureate was barred from the 1990 general election, and she is likely to remain behind bars until the military junta's proposed 2010 election is over.
Obama is expected to be in Oslo in person to deliver an acceptance speech in December. In 1991, Suu Kyi's prize was received by her son Alexander Aris.
In his speech, Aris said: ``I know that if she were free today my mother would, in thanking you, also ask you to pray that the oppressors and the oppressed should throw down their weapons and join together to build a nation founded on humanity in the spirit of peace.''
Aung San Suu Kyi continues to be a staunch advocate and believer of nonviolence who wants to resolve the conflicts in Myanmar peacefully.
In the latest sign of a positive development, at her request, Suu Kyi was allowed to meet diplomats from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia on Oct. 9 to discuss their views on sanctions on Myanmar. This issue, for a while, has been Than Shwe's (junta chief) key condition for entering into a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi.
Sadly in Myanmar, there is no independent Gallup poll to gauge the popularity of Suu Kyi. Nevertheless, she remains to be a promising leader who can be widely accepted by the different ethnic groups in the country.
While Obama is building his international image through diplomacy, Suu Kyi in her utmost capacity is working to establish a democratic society in her country.
Nehginpao Kipgen is a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Myanmar (1947-2004) and general secretary of the U.S.-based Kuki International Forum (www.kukiforum.com). He has written numerous analytical articles on the politics of Myanmar and Asia for many leading international newspapers. He can be reached at nehginpao@yahoo.com.