It was a statement that probably best sums up one woman's ideology, courage, endurance, patriotism - and the sad price of having all these qualities.

While the world was distracted by - and then busy with - Thaksin Shinawatra, the self-proclaimed "Aung San Suu Kyi of Thailand", the real heroine turned 62 yesterday. Global ceremonies and rituals are on a special scale, but they will pass. There are some gatherings, the usual calls for her release from house arrest and editorials condemning the Burmese junta, but she looked in her late 40s at best in the photos that the newspapers managed to find, and this says more than a thousand words.

This is perhaps a time of great reflection for all democracy-loving people. We should define a "champion of democracy" by her example - a person of defiance, persecution and sacrifice. A victimised democratic leader is supposed to inspire, not divide. He or she is supposed to strengthen our faith in genuine righteousness, not make us suspect that there is always a hidden agenda behind every act. Defeated as he or she may have been, we should want to continue her fight, to carry the torch. Suu Kyi doesn't make us lose trust in or give up on democracy. Through the silence emanating from her Rangoon house a unique communications line connects her to us because her ideology is so pure and strong that nothing can barricade it. We know that democracy is something she's ready to die for although she has never once said so. And through this connection "democracy" blossoms in our hearts.

What she stands for speaks for her, something no publicist could ever achieve. She has never used democracy as a shield; instead she has been trapped physically by her true love for it. The ideology has consumed her and taken away a large part of her normal adult life, but Suu Kyi has never once made us question its virtue.

 A "democratic leader" is not supposed to look down on democracy's values, undermine its key principles and yet hide behind it or cling on to it when caught up in sin. He or she is not supposed to propagate the belief that corrupt politicians are the price that has to be paid in every democracy. And he or she is supposed to teach followers that no matter how huge an election victory is, or how big the voter turnout, there are many other things that are just as important if their democracy is to progress.

The world surely has not forgotten Suu Kyi, but it has kept one eye on someone far less genuine lately. Years and years under house arrest and she may not be aware of how much more compromised "democracy" has become outside of Burma. A popular democratically elected leader can invent a blatant tax-evasion scheme, stifle checks and balances, threaten free speech, ignore human rights, commit election fraud and still be considered acceptable. He can take control of the armed forces, practice brazen nepotism and yet street protests against those ills can be deemed a "blow to democracy". He can initiate a fishy government loan deal with the Burmese junta, which would benefit his private business, and he can still compare himself to her.

Suu Kyi probably doesn't know how easy it is now for men like that to come to represent democracy and gain international sympathy in the event of a harsh downfall. As she is confined by her non-negotiable conscience to an endless term of house arrest, she may not realise that a new breed of "democratic leader" is running the show in many places on earth now. They are easy to find, and easy to love. And in today's world, supporting Suu Kyi and damning them may be deemed ironic, if not hypocritical.

 How does her sweet and kind face look now? Though we so yearn to know, that could be secondary to another question: how would the state of the world's democracy look to her today if she had full access to everything going on? There's so much more we would like to learn from the Great Lady who, through her ongoing silent and peaceful political struggle, has taught us that the true spirit of democracy may exist in the strangest places.

Tulsathit Taptim