Aung San Suu Kyi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Aung San Suu Kyi

• She was born in a small village, Hmway Saung, outside Rangoon.

• Her name is derived from her 3 relatives- “Aung San” from her father, “Suu” from her paternal grandmother, and “Kyi” from her mother.

• Her father was commander of the Burma Independence Army and helped negotiate Burma’s independence from Britain. He is also known as the Father of the Nation in Myanmar.

• Her father was assassinated on 19 July 1947.

• Her mother, Ma Khin Kyi, was a diplomat and also served as an Ambassador to India.

• She received her education in Myanmar and India.

• In 1960, she moved to England to study at Oxford University.

• From 1969 to 1971, she worked as the Assistant Secretary for the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions at the United Nations in New York.

• In 1987, she became a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in Simla, India.

• In 1988, she returned to Myanmar after her mother suffered a severe stroke.

• On 15 August 1988, she requested the military-controlled government for multiparty elections.

• She first time made a public address outside the Shwedagon Pagoda on 26 August 1988 and called for a multiparty democratic government.

• On 24 September 1988, she co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) and was appointed its General Secretary.

• On 20 July 1989, she was put under house arrest for charges to divide the military.

• On 10 July 1991, she was awarded Sakharov human rights prize by the European Parliament. 

• On 14 October 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

• On 10 July 1995, she was released from house arrest on the conditions that she would restrict her political activities.

• On 23 September 2000, she was again put under house arrest.

• On 6 December 2000, Bill Clinton (the then President of the United States) awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

• On 6 May 2002, she was released from house arrest.

• On 30 May 2003, she was again put under house arrest.

• On 14 May 2009, she was arrested for violating the norms of house arrest.

• On 11 August 2009, she was sentenced to 18 more months of home confinement.

• On 13 November 2010, she was released from house arrest spending 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest.

• In November 2010, her son Kim Aris met his mother for the first time in 10 years. On 5 July 2011, he again visited her and accompanied her on a trip to Bagan, which was her 1st trip outside Yangon since 2003.

• On 1 April 2012, she won a seat in Parliament.

• In 2012, she was featured on the cover of Miss Magazine. 

• On 16 June 2012, she accepted her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo and delivered an acceptance speech.

• On 21 June 2012, she addressed both houses of the British parliament.

• On 19 November 2012, in the first visit of any sitting US President to Myanmar, Barack Obama (the then President of the United States) met her at her lakeside Villa where she spent years under house arrest.

• She is referred to as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese.  Daw means “Aunt” and is a Burmese honorific for any older and revered woman (just like “Madame”).