While many consider the lady's determination over nearly two decades of confinement as a waste of time, some scholars see another success story of a non-violent approach that reminds the world about the path of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela in fighting against an unjust society.

"What she has done is called democratic resistance. It has made the world see the facts about the military regime. It has damaged the regime's image as the world community has seen the cruelties it has imposed on her over the past 20 years," said peace scholar Chaiwat Satha-anand.

Suu Kyi has also been a symbolic leader who is the focus of non-violence resistance in Burma, Chaiwat added.

Pipob Udomittipong, who translated Suu Kyi's book "Letter from Burma", published in 1997, firmly believes she 'walks her talk' and having been held captive for almost 20 years is not a waste of time.

"We have to understand that 'civil disobedience or a version with a more spiritual approach, like Gandhi's 'satayagraha', does not just aim at achieving external objectives. For Aung San Suu Kyi, I believe to be kept under house arrest also fulfils her inner purpose, a tranquil and peaceful mind," Pipob said.

"In many of her letters she eloquently touched on the benefits she has gained personally from being in solitude, to contemplate on the sufferings of the National League of Democracy members and other prisoners of conscience who are incarcerated and languishing in jail."

Suu Kyi's peaceful action during her house arrest inspires many who are fighting for Burma's cause. It stimulates people to practise tolerance. This is a very important factor that will enable peace to prevail in a highly multi-ethnic society such as Burma, where ethnic strife is well entrenched and needs to be resolved through the nurturing of tolerance, Pipob said.

Although restricted in her freedom of movement, Suu Kyi has not allowed the military regime to restrict her freedom of expression, said Naruemon Thabchumpon, director of the International Development Studies Programme at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Political Science.

Naruemon said the military regime could do nothing about Suu Kyi's civil disobedience, while her peaceful action in confinement reflects the people's sufferings under the regime. It also keeps people in the outside world aware of the regime's suppression of its people. "What Aung San Suu Kyi has been doing under house arrest is a way of telling people about civil disobedience, which is aimed at shaking the moral consciousness of the military regime," Naruemon said.

Whether she is able to create a moral consciousness in the regime or not, Suu Kyi's civil disobedience is meaningful, especially in a Buddhist society like Burma, she said. "For me, Aung San Suu Kyi's civil disobedience under house arrest is still a powerful resistance."

However, as many praise Suu Kyi's peaceful resistance as "civil disobedience", Chaiwat said that understanding could create misunderstanding about the basic uses of civil disobedience.

Civil disobedience is a subset of non-violence activities, and what Suu Kyi has been doing in fighting against the military regime is non-violent resistance, he said.

"Civil disobedience can be done in a certain context of a nearly just society or a nearly democratic society. But Burma is nowhere near a just society," he said.