10 Facts About Aung San Suu Kyi, The Leader of Myanmar Who is Also a Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Aung San Suu Kyi’s a name that’s been on headlines as of late, the one who everyone’s watching amidst the unstable political situation in Myanmar.

In case you’ve only heard of the name and not much about the woman herself who fought her way up to lead a country, much less who she is, here are 10 facts about Myanmar’s (former) leader to know.

1. Aung San Suu Kyi Has a Political Family Background

Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon, Burma (now known as Yangon, Myanmar) as the daughter of General Aung San of the Burma Independence Army, hailed as a hero for playing a part in Burma’s independence from Britain.

Sadly, he was assassinated when she was only two years old.

Her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, was a diplomat and was later appointed as the Myanmar ambassador in Delhi, India where they both moved to when she was 15.

Having both parents involved in politics, it’s no surprise that Aung San Suu Kyi found the calling for it decades later as well.

2. Started Another Family In The UK

In 1960, Aung San Suu Kyi studied philosophy, politics and economics in the UK’s acclaimed Oxford University. There, she met her husband-to-be Michael Aris, who was a British scholar.

Following work stints in Japan and Bhutan, the couple settled down and had a quiet family life with two children named Alexander and Kim in the UK for almost thirty years.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother became critically ill after, causing her to return to Yangon and Myanmar in 1988 to care for her – and that was when it all started.

3. Started A Nonviolent Movement For Human Rights

At the time, Myanmar was in a time of political unrest. Protests led by students, office workers, monks and more to demand for democratic reform were flooding Yangon’s streets – and something sparked in Aung San Suu Kyi.

You can read this article on what had then happened.

She went on to make her first public address on 26 August 1988 outside the Shwedagon Pagoda, saying: “I could not as my father’s daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on.”

This began Aung San Suu Kyi’s nonviolent conquest to fight for democracy as well as human rights, leading the revolt against the brutal dictator General Ne Win, who was ruling over the country then.

4. Co-Founder Of The National League For Democracy (NLD)

Aung San Suu Kyi began to organise rallies around the country, using nonviolent ways inspired by Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi to protest for peaceful democratic reform and free elections.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) was then co-founded by her in the following month, a political party that sought to fulfil their goals of democratic reform. She took the position of general secretary.

However, the journey was only about to get tougher, for her demonstrations were shut down by the military, who staged a coup and gained control over the country on 18 September 1988.

5. Placed On House Arrest For Years

Remember that feeling when we were all in quarantine for about three months during the circuit breaker period? Yep, now take that feeling and extend it to about 15 years – that’s what Aung San Suu Kyi had to go through, just scarier.

The military placed her under house arrest in 1989 under alleged charges of dividing the military and offered her freedom if she agreed to leave the country – which she denied.

National elections occured in 1990, in which the NLD contested for and won with over 80% of the seats in parliament, but to no one’s surprise, the military refused to recognise and accept the party’s win. These results were formally annulled in 2010.

Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest for six long years until 1995, but she was still facing restrictions against travelling outside of Yangon. She was able to meet some NLD officials and diplomats during this time, but was again placed under house arrest in 2000 for attempting to travel to Mandalay.

This term of arrest ended in 2002, but was short-lived as she was sent back on house arrest the next year, following disputes between the NLD and pro-government protestors.

Come 2009, when she was supposed to finally be freed, an impostor from the US actually swam to her lakeside house and hid in her property, to which the military reacted by extending her house arrest until 2010.

Many suspected the military of wanting to block her and her party from contesting in the 2010 free elections – which worked, for they indeed gave up in solidarity of their leader.

And now, for a really heartbreaking story – her husband Michael Aris was actually dying of cancer in the 1990s, and had applied for a visa to visit her in Myanmar, but it was rejected by the military. Aung San Suu Kyi made the choice to stay in Myanmar as well instead of flying over the UK, for she feared that she would not be allowed back in the country ever again when she returned.

So Michael passed away in March 1999, without getting to see his wife for the last time.

6. Received A Nobel Peace Prize

During the early years of her house arrest sentence, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.”

Since she was still detained at the time, her eldest son Alexander accepted the award in her place.

Following a visit to Thailand and parts of Europe in 2012, her first time out of the country in twenty years, Aung San Suu Kyi finally gave her acceptance speech for it in Oslo, Norway.

7. Aung San Suu Kyi: The State Counselor

Despite the adversities, Aung San Suu Kyi did not give up on her goal, and announced that she and the NLD would be running for the parliamentary by-elections in 2012 while the government was in reform. They ended up winning 43 out of the 45 seats, and she was appointed as an MP and an opposition leader.

However, despite the party’s majority win, certain rules enacted in 2010 by the military government prevented Aung San Suu Kyi specifically from becoming the president. Individuals who had been convicted of a crime or was married to a foreigner was to be disqualified for running for office.

Her close confidante Htin Kyaw became the president instead, and created a role specifically for her called the state counselor, which, similar to a prime minister, holds precedence over the President. This made her Myanmar’s leader by proxy.

Smart, eh?

8. Awards Revoked

During the 2016 Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, the country was accused of genocide of the Muslim minority due to army crackdowns in the Rahkine state and is now facing a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in addition to investigations as to whether they have committed crimes against humanity.

Many started to question Aung San Suu Kyi’s leadership, whose brand had always been to advocate for human rights. She was accused of turning a blind eye to the ruthless military, and did not denounce their actions when she addressed the situation.

This resulted in several international organisations revoking awards that they had previously bestowed upon her, such as the Elie Weisel Award from The US Holocaust Museum and Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award besides others. Ouch.

However, her Nobel peace prize wasn’t revoked.

9. Her Party Had A Landslide Victory In The 2020 Elections

The country’s recent 2020 National Elections held just in November saw Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD winning a landslide victory once again, sweeping a whopping 83% of the seats in parliament.

However, the military has accused them of election fraud, and refuses to acknowledge the results even though the election committee has held that there were no errors big enough to affect the election outcome.

NLD has also shot back, saying the accusations were groundless.

10. Currently Detained By The Military

It looks like the decades-long battle between Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and the country’s military hasn’t ended yet, and won’t come to an end anytime soon either.

On 1 Feb 2021, the military conducted a raid, on the day where an NLD parliament sitting was supposed to take place. Several officials, including Ms Aung San Suu Kyi herself and President Win Myint, have been detained and remains uncontactable.

This is the third military coup to happen in Myanmar after one in 1962 and the other in 1988, which Ms Aung San Suu Kyi had witnessed as well.

Whatever will happen to the future of Myanmar’s government and their iconic leader still remains to be seen for now.

Featured Image: 360b / Shutterstock.com