Aung San Suu Kyi was the state counselor of Myanmar. And currently under the house arrest of the Myanmar military Junta. 

She is famous for her effort to establish democracy in Myanmar.

In this post, we will discuss Aung sang Suu Kyi.

Early Life

Aung San Suu Kyi was born in 1945 as the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero General Aung San.

When she was 2 years old, her father was assassinated.  

In 1960 she went with her mother, to India, where her mother was appointed as the ambassador in Delhi.

After enrolling at Oxford University, she could learn Philosophy, Politics, and economics.

Political Life

When she came to visit her mother in Myanmar in 1988, the country was under serious political unrest. There were many protesters in the streets who demanded democratic reforms.

By inspiring the thoughts and the paths of the US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi in India, she decided to fight for democracy.

In 1988 the military of Myanmar got to power through a coup and placed Aung San Suu Kyi on house arrest.

The military government decided to go to an election in 1990 and National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the election. But the military government refused it.

In 1991, Aung San Suu was Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her unconditional effort to establish democracy in Myanmar. 

In 1995, Aung San Suu Kyi was released.   

In 2000, again she was under house arrest because of violating the restrictions that were imposed on her not to travel outside of Yangon and released in 2002.

Following clashes between the military government and her political party, she was prisoned in 2003. In the same year, she was allowed to go home but remained under house arrest.

In the election of 2010, the army-backed Union and Development party won, and in the same year, she was released.

The National League for Democracy won Myanmar’s 1st openly contested election in 2015. However, Myanmar’s constitution did not allow her to become the president of Myanmar because she has foreign children. Her husband was an academic in the UK, Michael Aris. but she acted as the state counselor, which can be identified as a de facto role, while Win Myint acted as the president. 

In 2020, her NLD party again won the election. But the military did not accept the result and claimed it was a fraud. on the 1st day of the parliament, the military arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, and currently, she is again under house arrest.

Now, she has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for 11 cases and still some cases are remaining. 

However, there are some criticisms against her regarding the facts of the Rohingya crisis.  

Conclusion

Establishing democracy in a country like Myanmar is not easy. Characters like Aung San Suu Kyi are still popular because of her effort to establish democracy without thinking about her own family. She couldn’t see her husband who died of cancer. However, the world is watching Myanmar and its future.