Or the feisty fringe. Dissidents may be cut off from the main, or legal, channels of politics. Suu Kyi's cause stems from a 1990 election victory denied her after the event. Indonesia's Megawati Sukarnoputri is another suppressed politician who will not give up.
People love an underdog.
That is what Hong Kong legislator Martin Lee Chu Ming will soon become. His Democratic Party holds the biggest bloc of seats in the Legislative Council. Come July 1, it will have none. The party is boycotting what it views as an illegal Provisional Legislature. Lee is hoping this principled stand can translate into voter support again.