A family portrait, with Aung San Suu Kyi (in white) as a toddler, taken shortly before her father's assassination in 1947
Gallery of Aung Kyi
1951
Aung San Suu Kyi at the age of 6
College/University
Gallery of Aung Kyi
Gallery of Aung Kyi
St Margaret's Rd, Oxford OX2 6LE, United Kingdom
In 1969 Aung studied at St Hugh's College at the faculty of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
Gallery of Aung Kyi
Career
Gallery of Aung Kyi
1971
Bhutan, South Asia
Aung San Suu Kyi on the snowy slopes of a mountain. Further up the hill, at Taktsang temple, Michael had proposed to her.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
1971
Bhutan, South Asia
The future Nobel laureate riding a mule up a mountain.
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1972
King's Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 5PL, United Kingdom
Aung San Suu Kyi and Michael Aris marry, aged 26 and 25 in Chelsea registry office.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
1974
Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother, Daw Khin Kyi, meets her grandson, Alexander, for the first time on a family visit to Rangoon. Michael Aris stands at the back.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
1980
Having a barbecue on a family holiday.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
2019
Naypyitaw, Myanmar
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi shake hands prior to their meeting.
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2019
Beijing, China
Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi left, shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as they pose for media before their meeting.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
2019
Beijing, China
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes the hand of Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
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2019
Beijing, China
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) arrives to attend a welcoming banquet for the Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at the Great Hall of the People.
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2019
Bangkok
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attended the opening ceremony of a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
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2019
Beijing, China
Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi listens Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People.
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2019
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi lays a wreath during a ceremony in Yangon on July 19, 2019, marking the 72nd anniversary of the assassination of independence heroes including her father Gen. Aung San.
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2019
Beijing, China
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (L), Myanmar State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi (C) and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (R) arrive for the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.
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2019
Beijing, China
Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (3rd L) during a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin (4th R) on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
2019
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi attends a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Gallery of Aung Kyi
2019
72nd anniversary of Myanmar independence heroes' death
Gallery of Aung Kyi
2019
Bangkok
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi attends the opening ceremony of a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother, Daw Khin Kyi, meets her grandson, Alexander, for the first time on a family visit to Rangoon. Michael Aris stands at the back.
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) arrives to attend a welcoming banquet for the Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at the Great Hall of the People.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attended the opening ceremony of a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi lays a wreath during a ceremony in Yangon on July 19, 2019, marking the 72nd anniversary of the assassination of independence heroes including her father Gen. Aung San.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (L), Myanmar State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi (C) and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (R) arrive for the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.
Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (3rd L) during a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin (4th R) on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum.
Freedom from Fear: And Other Writings - Kindle edition by Aung San Suu Kyi, Michael Aris, Vaclav Havel, Desmond M. Tutu. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
(Freedom from Fear - collected writings from the Nobel Pea...)
Freedom from Fear - collected writings from the Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi's collected writings - edited by her late husband, whom the ruling military junta prevented from visiting Burma as he was dying of cancer - reflects her greatest hopes and fears for her fellow Burmese people, and her concern about the need for international co-operation in the continuing fight for Burma's freedom. Bringing together her most powerful speeches, letters and interviews, this remarkable collection gives a voice to Burma's 'woman of destiny', whose fate remains in the hands of her enemies. Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and leader of Burma's National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the world's greatest living defenders of freedom and democracy, and an inspiration to millions worldwide. This book sits alongside Nelson Mandela's memoir Long Walk to Freedom. 'This book is bound to become a classic for a new generation of Asians who value democracy even more highly than Westerners do, simply because they are deprived of the basic freedoms that Westerners take for granted'The New York Times 'Aung San Suu Kyi's extraordinary achievement has been to confront the regime peacefully, reasonably and persuasively... [in] one of the most laudable continuing acts of political courage' Financial Times 'Such is the depth of passion and learning that she brings to her writings about national identity and its links with culture and language that she has attracted the admiration of intellectuals around the world' Sunday Times Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma's National League for Democracy. She was placed under house arrest in Rangoon in 1989, where she remained for almost 15 of the 21 years until her release in 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners. She is also the author of Letters from Burma.
(Letters from Burma - an unforgettable collection from the...)
Letters from Burma - an unforgettable collection from the Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi In these astonishing letters, Aung San Suu Kyi reaches out beyond Burma's borders to paint for her readers a vivid and poignant picture of her native land. Here she celebrates the courageous army officers, academics, actors and everyday people who have supported the National League for Democracy, often at great risk to their own lives. She reveals the impact of political decisions on the people of Burma, from the terrible cost to the children of imprisoned dissidents - allowed to see their parents for only fifteen minutes every fortnight - to the effect of inflation on the national diet and of state repression on traditions of hospitality. She also evokes the beauty of the country's seasons and scenery, customs and festivities that remain so close to her heart. Through these remarkable letters, the reader catches a glimpse of exactly what is at stake as Suu Kyi fights on for freedom in Burma, and of the love for her homeland that sustains her non-violent battle. Includes an introduction from Fergal Keane 'Aung San Suu Kyi has become a global symbol of peaceful resistance, courage and apparently endless endurance' Guardian 'A real hero in an age of phony phone-in celebrity, which hands out that title freely to the most spoiled and underqualified' Bono, Time Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma's National League for Democracy. She was placed under house arrest in Rangoon in 1989, where she remained for almost 15 of the 21 years until her release in 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners. She is also the author of the collection of writings Freedom from Fear.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Voice of Hope: Conversations with Alan Clements
(Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Prize Laureate, mother of two, an...)
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Prize Laureate, mother of two, and devout Buddhist, is one of the most inspiring examples of spiritually infused politics and fearless leadership that the world has ever seen. Daughter of the martyred Burmese national hero who negotiated Burma's independence from Britain in the 1940s, Aung San Suu Kyi led the pro-democracy movement in Burma in 1988. The movement was quickly and brutally crushed by the military junta, and Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. The Voice of Hope is a rare and intimate journey to the heart of her struggle. Over a period of nine months, Alan Clements, the first American ordained as a Buddhist monk in Burma, met with Aung San Suu Kyi shortly after her release from her first house arrest in July 1995. With her trademark ability to speak directly and compellingly, she presents here her vision of engaged compassion and describes how she has managed to sustain her hope and optimism.
Aung San Suu Kyi, also called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is an Burmese politician and opposition leader of Myanmar, daughter of Aung San (a martyred national hero of independent Burma) and Khin Kyi (a prominent Burmese diplomat), and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991. She held multiple governmental posts since 2016, including that of state counselor, which essentially made her the de facto leader of the country.
Background
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on June 19, 1945, in Rangoon (now Yangon), British Burma. She was born in a small village outside Rangoon called Hmway Saung. Her father, Aung San, allied with the Japanese during World War II. Aung San founded the modern Burmese army and negotiated Burma's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947; he was assassinated by his rivals in the same year. She grew up with her mother, Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and Aung San Oo, in Rangoon. Aung San Lin died at the age of eight, when he drowned in an ornamental lake on the grounds of the house. Her elder brother emigrated to San Diego, California, becoming a United States citizen. After Aung San Lin's death, the family moved to a house by Inya Lake where Aung San Suu Kyi met people of various backgrounds, political views and religions.
Education
Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in Methodist English High School (now Basic Education High School No. 1 Dagon) for much of her childhood in Burma, where she was noted as having a talent for learning languages. She speaks four languages: Burmese, English, French and Japanese.
Suu Kyi's mother, Khin Kyi, gained prominence as a political figure in the newly formed Burmese government. She was appointed Burmese ambassador to India and Nepal in 1960, and Aung San Suu Kyi followed her there. She studied in the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in New Delhi, and graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, a constituent college of the University of Delhi in New Delhi, with a degree in politics in 1964. Suu Kyi continued her education at St Hugh's College, Oxford, obtaining a B.A. degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1967, graduating with a third-class degree and M.A. degree in politics in 1968.
Between 1985 and 1987, Aung San Suu Kyi was working toward an M.Phil. degree in Burmese literature as a research student at SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She was elected as an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh's in 1990. For two years, she was a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) in Shimla, India. She also worked for the government of the Union of Burma. She received a doctor's degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 1985.
Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma to nurse her dying mother, leaving her husband and sons behind. There the mass slaughter of protesters against the brutal and unresponsive rule of military strongman U Ne Win led her to speak out against him and to begin a nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights in that country.
In July 1989 the military government of the newly named Union of Myanmar (since 2011, Republic of the Union of Myanmar) placed Suu Kyi under house arrest in Yangon (Rangoon) and held her incommunicado. The military offered to free her if she agreed to leave Myanmar, but she refused to do so until the country was returned to civilian government and political prisoners were freed. The National League for Democracy (NLD), which Suu Kyi had cofounded in 1988, won more than 80 percent of the parliamentary seats that were contested in 1990, but the results of that election were ignored by the military government (in 2010 the military government formally annulled the results of the 1990 election). The news that Suu Kyi was being given the Nobel Prize set off intense vilification of her by the government, and, since she was still being detained, her son, Alexander Aris, accepted the award in her place.
Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest in July 1995, although restrictions were placed on her ability to travel outside Yangon. The following year she attended the NLD party congress, but the military government continued to harass both her and her party. In 1998, she announced the formation of a representative committee that she declared was the country’s legitimate ruling parliament.
The junta once again placed Suu Kyi under house arrest from September 2000 to May 2002, ostensibly for having violated restrictions by attempting to travel outside Yangon. Following clashes between the NLD and pro-government demonstrators in 2003, the government returned her to house arrest. Calls for her release continued throughout the international community in the face of her sentence’s annual renewal, and in 2009 a United Nations body declared her detention illegal under Myanmar’s own law. In 2008 the conditions of her house arrest were somewhat loosened, allowing her to receive some magazines as well as letters from her children, who were both living abroad.
In May 2009, shortly before her most recent sentence was to be completed, Suu Kyi was arrested and charged with having breached the terms of her house arrest after an intruder (a U.S. citizen) entered her house compound and spent two nights there. In August, she was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, though the sentence immediately was reduced to 18 months, and she was allowed to serve it while remaining under house arrest. At the time of her conviction, the belief was widespread both within and outside Myanmar that this latest ruling was designed to prevent Suu Kyi from participating in multiparty parliamentary elections (the first since 1990) scheduled for 2010.
That suspicion became reality through a series of new election laws enacted in March 2010: one prohibited individuals from any participation in elections if they had been convicted of a crime (as she had been in 2009), and another disqualified anyone who was (or had been) married to a foreign national from running for office. In support of Suu Kyi, the NLD refused to reregister under those new laws (as was required) and was disbanded. The government parties faced little opposition in the November 7, 2010, election and easily won an overwhelming majority of legislative seats amid widespread allegations of voter fraud. Suu Kyi was released from house arrest six days after the election and vowed to continue her opposition to military rule.
Government restrictions on Suu Kyi’s activities were further relaxed during 2011. She was allowed to meet freely with associates and others in Yangon and by midyear was able to travel outside the city. In August, she met in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw (Naypyidaw), with Thein Sein, who had become the civilian president of Myanmar in March. Other high-profile meetings followed later in the year, including those with Thailand’s new prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in October and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December. Meanwhile, rules on political participation were eased, and, in advance of parliamentary by-elections scheduled for April 2012, the NLD was officially reinstated. In January 2012 Suu Kyi announced that she was seeking election to a constituency in Yangon, and her bid to run for office was approved by the government in February. She easily won her seat in the April 1 elections and was sworn into office on May 2.
In late May and early June 2012 Suu Kyi visited Thailand, her first trip outside Myanmar since 1988. Later in June she traveled to Europe, making stopovers in several countries. Highlights of that journey included giving the acceptance speech for her Nobel Prize in Oslo, Norway, and being invited to address the British Parliament in London.
Suu Kyi maintained a high international profile - including a visit to China in mid-2015 - as she worked toward greater political liberalization in Myanmar. Although some progress was achieved, no changes were made to the constitutional provision banning a candidate from running for the presidency whose spouse or children are foreign nationals. Nonetheless, Suu Kyi and the NLD campaigned vigorously for what turned out to be the country’s first openly contested parliamentary election. The polling, held in early November 2015, produced a major victory for the NLD, which was able to secure large-enough majorities of seats in both legislative chambers to allow the party to form the next national government. As Suu Kyi was not able to stand for the presidency, the NLD selected her close confidant, Htin Kyaw, as the party’s candidate, though Suu Kyi clearly indicated her intent to rule the country by proxy. On March 15, 2016, legislative members elected Htin Kyaw to serve as the country’s new president He was inaugurated on March 30.
Suu Kyi initially held four ministerial posts in the new government - minister of energy, minister of education, foreign minister, and minister in the president’s office - but within a week had given up the first two positions. She was then named state counselor, a position newly created by the legislature and signed into law by Htin Kyaw; the post was similar to that of prime minister and potentially more powerful than the president. The creation of the state counselor role for Suu Kyi rankled the military, whose legislative members denounced the bill that provided for the new position as being unconstitutional and refused to take part in the vote on the bill.
In her new role, Suu Kyi focused on finding peace with the country’s many ethnic armed organizations, of which 20 or so were engaged in active insurgencies. In contrast with some success experienced on that front, she and her administration faced widespread international condemnation over the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya people of Myanmar’s Rakhine state. After some attacks by Rohingya militants on security installations in 2016 and 2017, the military and police embarked on a brutal campaign against the entire group, allegedly committing human rights abuses and causing a large percentage of the population to flee the country. Given Suu Kyi’s history as a champion of human rights and democracy, sharp criticism was directed at her in particular for initially seeming to ignore the crisis and, when she did address it, not denouncing the actions of the security forces or intervening. In protest of her inaction regarding the plight of the Rohingya, several organizations revoked human rights-related honours and awards previously bestowed upon her.
The nascent administration was hit with a bit of upheaval in March 2018 when Htin Kyaw resigned unexpectedly. His successor, NLD stalwart Win Myint, was also a longtime associate of Suu Kyi, and it was expected that the established division of power between the presidency and Suu Kyi’s state counselor position would continue unchanged.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s published works included Freedom from Fear, and Other Writings, 2nd ed. (1995; reissued 2010), and Letters from Burma (1997; reissued 2010).
Aung is a Theravada Buddhist. During her time under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi devoted herself to Buddhist meditation practices and to studying Buddhist thought. This deeper interest in Buddhism is reflected in her writings as more emphasis is put on love and compassion.
Politics
She is the founding member and chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burma.
Asked what democratic models Myanmar could look to, she said: "We have many, many lessons to learn from various places, not just the Asian countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, and Indonesia." She also cited "the eastern European countries, which made the transition from communist autocracy to democracy in the 1980s and 1990s, and the Latin American countries, which made the transition from military governments. "And we cannot of course forget South Africa, because although it wasn't a military regime, it was certainly an authoritarian regime." She added: "We wish to learn from everybody who has achieved a transition to democracy, and also ... our great strong point is that, because we are so far behind everybody else, we can also learn which mistakes we should avoid."
In a nod to the deep US political divide between Republicans led by Mitt Romney and the Democrats of Obama - then battling to win the 2012 Presidential election - she stressed, "Those of you who are familiar with American politics I'm sure understand the need for negotiated compromise."
Views
A Theravada Buddhist, her campaign for a democratic Burma was on the lines of the philosophy of non-violence advocated by Mahatma Gandhi and Buddhist concepts.
Quotations:
"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."
"My attitude to peace is rather based on the Burmese definition of peace - it really means removing all the negative factors that destroy peace in this world. So peace does not mean just putting an end to violence or to war, but to all other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, such as inequality, poverty."
"Human beings want to be free and however long they may agree to stay locked up, to stay oppressed, there will come a time when they say 'That's it. ' Suddenly they find themselves doing something that they never would have thought they would be doing, simply because of the human instinct that makes them turn their face towards freedom."
"Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up."
"The judiciary must be strengthened and released from political interference."
"Since we live in this world, we have to do our best for this world."
"If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith."
"The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged."
"I don't think of myself as unbreakable. Perhaps I'm just rather flexible and adaptable."
"By helping others, you will learn how to help yourselves."
"If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise."
"Fundamental violations of human rights always lead to people feeling less and less human."
"The best way to help Burma is to empower the people of Burma, to help us have enough self-confidence to obtain what we want for ourselves."
"This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was to do with responsibility, it was to do with service, so I think I was conditioned to think like that, and I'm too old to change now."
"Every government must consider the security of the country. That is just part of the responsibilities of any government. But true security can only come out of unity within a country where there are so many ethnic nationalities."
"Regime is made up of people, so I do put faces to regimes and governments, so I feel that all human beings have the right to be given the benefit of the doubt, and they also have to be given the right to try to redeem themselves if they, so wish."
Membership
Aung San Suu Kyi was the honorary member of The Elders, a group of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela. However, she stepped down from her post upon her election to parliament. She was Club of Madrid Honorary Member in 2008. She has been an honorary board member of International IDEA and ARTICLE 19 since her detention.
The Elders
Club of Madrid
2008
ARTICLE 19
Personality
Aung San Suu Kyi is very brave and selfless woman who laid down her whole life for the welfare of her country.
Physical Characteristics:
Aung San Suu Kyi had surgery for a gynecological condition in September 2003 at Asia Royal Hospital during her house arrest. She underwent minor foot surgery in December 2013 and eye surgery in April 2016. Her doctor said that she had no serious health problems but weighed only 48 kg, had low blood pressure and could become weak easily.
Height - 168 cm (1.68 m)
Weight - 62 kg (137 lbs)
Eye color - black
Hair color - salt & pepper
Quotes from others about the person
"When the Burmese government tries to blame the victims for the crime, and say that Aung San Suu Kyi and her party are responsible for their own repression, I can only reply that much the same was once said about Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel. The world is not fooled." - Madeleine Albright
"Aung San Suu Kyi serves as a reminder to us all that the commitment to nonviolence against aggressive violence, although deflected, cannot be ignored." - Oscar Arias
"What you've got they can't deny it. Can't sell it, can't buy it. Walk on, walk on. Stay safe tonight." - Bono
"As a tireless champion of human rights and democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi inspires countless people around the world who strive for peace, justice and freedom. In the face of great hardship she has never wavered in her commitment to peaceful change." - George W. Bush
Interests
Philosophers & Thinkers
Mahatma Gandhi
Politicians
Nelson Mandela
Connections
In 1971, Aung San Suu Kyi tied the nuptial knot to Dr Micheal Aris, a scholar of Tibetan culture. She met him while she was working for the United Nations. The couple was blessed with two sons, Alexander Aris and Kim in 1972 and 1977 respectively. The love life of the couple was however a distressed one as the two could not meet each other frequently. While Aris was denied an entry visa by the Burmese dictatorship, Suu Kyi suffered from house arrest.
For the temporary duration that she was relieved of the house arrest protocol, Suu Kyi feared moving out of the country as she did not trust the military junta's assurance that she could return. Due to this, Aris and Suu Kyi remained apart from each other meeting only five times from 1989 until his death in 1999. Aris was suffering from terminal prostate cancer. Suu Kyi was also separated from her children who are settled in United Kingdom. Since 2011, they have visited their mother in Burma on several occasions.