Myanmar's military rulers are preparing to conduct elections, starting this Sunday, in a move they claim will restore democratic governance. However, the shadow of the country's ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, hangs heavily over the process. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been held in complete isolation by the junta since the February 2021 coup that abruptly ended Myanmar's decade-long democratic experiment.
The Lady's Legacy and Current Imprisonment
Known across Myanmar as "The Lady" and often recognized by the fresh flowers in her hair, Aung San Suu Kyi is now in her eighties. Her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), achieved a landslide victory in the last general elections held in November 2020. The military, however, refused to accept the results, annulled the vote, dissolved the NLD, and arrested its leadership.
Suu Kyi has now spent nearly two decades of her life under various forms of military detention. Her current imprisonment is the most severe, with no access to the outside world. The junta's upcoming polls are widely seen as an attempt to legitimize its rule and erase the results of the 2020 election that it voided.
From Democratic Icon to Civil War
The military's seizure of power and detention of Suu Kyi triggered massive nationwide protests. When peaceful demonstrations were met with brutal force, the resistance evolved into an armed struggle. Myanmar is now engulfed in a devastating civil war, with numerous ethnic armed organizations and newly formed People's Defense Forces battling the junta across the country.
Internationally, Suu Kyi's reputation suffered greatly due to her government's handling of the Rohingya crisis, during which she defended the military against allegations of genocide. Yet, for millions within Myanmar, her name remains synonymous with the democratic aspirations that the military has repeatedly crushed. Her absence from the electoral process is a stark symbol that the junta's polls will be neither free nor fair.
A Life of Contradiction and Accident
The story of Aung San Suu Kyi is filled with striking contradictions. She is the daughter of General Aung San, the revered founder of Myanmar's modern armed forces, who was assassinated in 1947. Born on June 19, 1945, in Yangon during Japanese occupation, she spent much of her early life abroad.
She lived in India where her mother served as an ambassador, and later studied at Oxford University, where she met her British husband. Her return to Myanmar in 1988 to care for her dying mother coincided with a major uprising against General Ne Win's dictatorship. Almost by accident, she was propelled into the role of the nation's democratic champion, leading the struggle against military rule for decades.
As the generals now attempt to stage their version of a democratic transition, the nation they control is fractured by war. The enduring symbol of that unfinished struggle for democracy remains locked away, her fate and that of her country more uncertain than ever.
