If she is not the bravest person in the World

Aung San Suu Kyi is on the short list. She has stood up to the powers that be in Myanmar -- including the post-election coup after she overwhelmingly won election in 1990. Having spent most of more than two decades under house arrest -- after winning the Nobel Prize that almost certainly saved her life -- she has again been voted into office.

Supporters of Myanmar's opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi erupted in euphoric cheers Sunday after her party said she won a parliamentary seat in a landmark election, setting the stage for her to take public office for the first time.

Now, having won office, will they allow her to take it? As mentioned above, on a larger scale the military junta denied her twenty-one years ago, after she and her party received nearly three times more votes than any other group and a healthy majority of the overall vote.

The Boston Globe recently had one of its often fantastic photo essays on Myanmar, look through the link and note juxtaposed pictures Myanmar's current parliament and Suu Kyi campaigning and you will see all you need of what she faces. The contrast is stunning.

Let's hope she gets the chance to face it.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

(pic via Globalism Pictures at Flickr.com)