Suu Kyi: I never felt that I was not free

Mendengar pidato Aun San Suu Kyi di  Sorbonne pada 28 Juni 2012 ini tiba-tiba membuat saya berpikir tentang video game, calculator, komputer and segala kemudahan yang dimiliki kita dan anak-anak jaman sekarang. Kadang saya membayangkan kalau tidak ada calculator dan saya harus menghitung sesuatu dalam waktu yang sangat singkat dalam situasi yang sangat genting dengan konsekwensi nyawa saya, apakah saya akan survive? Kemudahan jaman modern dengan segala fasilitas dan kemudaan telah membua banyak di antara kehilangan apa yang disebut Suu Kyi dengan "inner resources".

Pidato ini mengingatkan kita akan esensi pendidikan yang sebernarnya yaitu mengasah inner resources kita agar dalam kondisi yang sulit kita tidak hanya survive tetapi terus bertumbuh. Terlalu banyak pendidikan yang menghasilkan banyak mediocre karena kemudahan yang tersedia. Saya teringat seorang kepala sekolah pendidikan pertanian di Naibonat, Kupang yang pernah dengan sangat sinis mengatakan: "kerbau pun kalau disekolahkah akan mendapat ijazah."

Berikut ini adalah transkrip dari pidato Aung San Suu Kyi pada bagian awal video ini:

"..One of the things that help me to pass these years with equanimity was my curiosity. I was always wanting to know more, about what was happening to the world around me and to myself as well. And however small the world may be, even if its confined to one house or even to one room, there is always something of interest could going on. And because of these interests I never felt that I was not free. I have sometimes felt somewhat unreal, because I was not in contact with the rest of the world, but I never felt that I was not free because my mind was free to think. And to think about new things. Everyday day it seems to me that there were new things to think about.

I practice meditation during those years, and this teaches you a lot about yourself. You should try to sitting very quietly for about 20 minutes and not thinking, it very difficult not to think. And then you realized what your mind is really like. And little by little, because you know more about yourself,  you are more sensitive to what is going on around you. And of course I was lucky enough to have a radio to listen to, and books to read.

All of us need inner resources at some time or the other. If you are lucky you may not have to depend on them too much. But circumstances around you are such that your life is restricted in certain ways then you have to fall back on your inner resources. And I think that's what education should be about: to built up your inner resources so that whatever circumstances you may find yourself, you will be able, not just to survive but to grow. Because life is about growing. Its not about remaining static. Its about learning new things every day, even if just something about yourself, or something about the room in which you are forced to be.

So I hope that all of you today will help me to learn new things in the next hour and a half, or perhaps less. And that the questions that you ask me will help me to ask questions about our situation in Burma. Because question lead to other question. Some have asked me: "Aren't you bored with people asking the same question again and again?" Its not quite like that, people put their questions in different ways. And sometimes, even the same questions can provoke new insides into the issue that they are addressing. I look very much forward to the questions that you will put to me. And I hope that they will as interesting for you as I am sure you questions will be to me, that my answer should be as interesting as your question will be to me. Thank you." 

Pidato ini sangat menarik dan sangat asli, dan jawaban-jawaban terhadap pertanyaan-pertanyaanpun sangat bagus. Selain itu, ia sangat sangat eloquent dalam bahasa Inggris dan juga sangat influence dalam bahasa Prancis.