In the 1980's, Suu Kyi’s home country of Burma was going through tough times. The value of the burmese currency was dropping, and Burma went from being one of the wealthiest countries in Southeast Asia, to one in poverty. During this horrible time, the government took away the citizens of Burma basic rights, jailed, and mass murdered thousands of people who were against the government, and wanted change. As the Burmese government did this, protests were starting. After one really large protest, Suu kyi wrote a letter to the government explaining how she wants multiparty elections to be held in Burma. She was campaigning for human rights and democracy in Burma. In July 1988, about a year before she was put under house arrest, Suu Kyi spoke in front of a crowd of 500,000 people in Rangoon. Her speech was inspired by her fathers in 1947. She spoke about her ideas for a democracy in Burma.