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Aung San Suu Kyi
For her steadiness and her steadfast belief in the powers of democracy and peaceful protest, 40.4% of voters nominated Aung San Suu Kyi as Asia's Online Hero for 2004. The daughter of Aung San, an independence leader who helped free Burma from colonialism under the British in 1948, Aung San Suu Kyi rose to the fore of the pro-democracy movement, only to see it violently suppressed in the early 1990s by Burma's ruling military junta. She has spent most of the time since then under house arrest, locked up in her family home on University Avenue in the Burmese capital of Rangoon, but remains a beacon of hope for her people. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and remains the only living recipient of that award incarcerated.
Hundreds of readers wrote in to nominate Aung San Suu Kyi as Asia's Online Hero, many praising her courage and integrity. "She has remained determined and dedicated to freedom even under circumstances most of can't even imagine," wrote one reader. "Having traveled to many parts of Burma, I was amazed at the respect, inspiration and hope she brought to Burmese people everywhere," added a visitor. Another reader lauded that her long-running, one-sided struggle with Burma's generals, noting that "she is only one citizen, whom 450,000 strong soldiers are afraid of." As one Burmese reader summed up, Aung San Suu Kyi "is the hero of our nation."
Here are the full voting results:
| Aung San Suu Kyi |
40.4% | 37,617 votes
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| Anwar Ibrahim |
35.9% | 33,379 votes
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| Dalai Lama |
20.3% | 18,879 votes
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| Anuradha Koirala |
0.5% | 482 votes
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| Yang Liwei |
0.5% | 482 votes
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| Narayana Murthy |
0.4% | 373 votes
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| Corazon Aquino |
0.3% | 266 votes
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| Liu Xiang |
0.3% | 264 votes
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| Manmohan Singh |
0.2% | 227 votes
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| Sakie Yokota |
0.2% | 173 votes
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| Kim Dae Jung |
0.1% | 124 votes
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| Shaukat Aziz |
0.1% | 116 votes
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| Martin Lee |
0.1% | 98 votes
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| Chen Chih Hsin & Chu Mu Yen |
0.1% | 97 votes
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| Lee Hsien Loong |
0.1% | 86 votes
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| Dat Nguyen |
0.1% | 84 votes
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| Liang Congjie |
0.1% | 83 votes
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| Medha Patkar |
0.1% | 74 votes
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| Tarun Tejpal |
0.1% | 67 votes
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| Wang Shuo |
0.1% | 49 votes
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Total Votes Cast: 93,022
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Here's what TIME's readers said about some of the other nominees:
"A man who believes in the integrity of all humans and that world peace is possible if humans exert there innate qualities of compassion and understanding."
—A nomination for The Dalai Lama
"Even the darkest of cells couldnt extinguish his courage and fortitude. He is Malaysia and Asia's new beacon for freedom and democracy."
—A nomination for Anwar Ibrahim
"Our first woman President, she brought back democracy to the Filipino people from the despotic 20-year rule of Ferdinand Marcos."
—A nomination for Corazon Aquino
"Seeing him in the NFL doing well, making great plays will inspire many second generation Asians in the U.S."
—A nomination for Dat Nguyen
"He set a historic record for China, and won a victory for Asian people. He proved that impossible is nothing. I am proud of him!"
—A nomination for Liu Xiang
"He is a Prime minister who has the vision to lead India."
—A nomination for Manmohan Singh
"He has struggled to bring democratic accountability to Hong Kong's political process ... He is always courteous, calm, rational, responsible, fairminded, balanced, generous, forgiving, a seeker of truth, a fighter for justice."
—A nomination for Martin Lee
"She is a river of environmental conscience in India. Before her, nobody had underlined the violence of industrial development in this part of the globe. Her ways are Gandhian."
—A nomination for Medha Patkar
"He is responsible for starting the IT revolution in India and putting the country on the global map."
—A nomination for Narayana Murthy
"He's the right man in the right place at the right time!"
—A nomination for Shaukat Aziz
"He has the courage to expose the powers-that-be, and despite struggle he is continuing with his fearless exposes."
—A nomination for Tarun Tejpal
"He is the first Asian astronaut on a spaceship made by his own country to go into space.Though decades behind the U.S. and Russia, it's still epic and breathtaking."
—A nomination for Yang Liwei
"She has singlehandedly set up an organisation to rescue innocent girls sold into a life of prostitution in the brothels of Bombay and other parts of India and Nepal. She provides care and comfort and prepares them for a meaningful life at her organization, "Maiti Nepal."
—A nomination for Anuradha Koirala
"Determined to rescure her daughter kidnapped by North Korea decades ago, an ordinary houosewife devoted her life to a battle against Kim Jong Il's dictatorship, and also Japan's indifferent and sometimes hostile media and public."
—A nomination for Sakie Yokota
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