Aung San Suu Kyi, the 75 year old Nobel laureate, born in an elite family, San Suu’s father was a Myanmar General who was a key pioneer in ending the British rule 1948 and founded the Myanmar’s armed forces.
She lived a better part of her life abroad, first in India where her mother was an ambassador and later in the UK where she met and married her British husband. She later moved back to Myanmar 1988 to start a life in active politics.
Aung San founded the National League for Democracy after the protest against the military 1988 that saw thousands killed. She was detained a few months later.
Her party went on to win the general elections of 1990 but since the military was not ready for a civilian rule it refused to hand over power. As a result, she spent almost 16 years under house arrest.
Her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights saw her receive a Nobel peace prize while still under detention in 1991.
In 2002 she won an election that saw her become a member of parliament. In 2015, her party won a general election making her a de facto leader as “state Councilor”, a power position she shared with the military.
Suu Kyi’s rule was coupled by an uneasy relationship with the military, which maintains a powerful and outsized political role in the country.
She promised to free prisoner but still critics of government were prosecuted and even journalists jailed. She was criticized for failing to speak out against the 2017 military prosecution of the Rohingya minority that forced over 700,000 refugees to flee the country. She later defended the actions of the military at the international court of Justice.
“Regrettably The Gambia has placed before the court a misleading and incomplete picture of the situation in Rakhine state,” Suu Kyi said as she defended the case against Myanmar’s military.
Aung San Suu’s power is now in balance as she was detained on Monday by the military whose actions she defended.
