Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Biography Quotes 15 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family Background
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on June 19, 1945, in Rangoon (now Yangon), British Burma, into one of the country's most consequential families. Her father, Aung San, was the architect of Burmese independence and remains a national hero; he was assassinated in 1947, when she was two, along with several cabinet colleagues, an event commemorated as Martyrs' Day. Her mother, Khin Kyi, a prominent public figure in her own right, later served as Burma's ambassador to India and Nepal, placing the family at the intersection of diplomacy and national identity from Suu Kyi's earliest years.

Education and Early Career
Suu Kyi was educated in Rangoon before accompanying her mother to New Delhi when Khin Kyi took up her ambassadorship. She studied at the University of Delhi, then moved to the United Kingdom and read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Hugh's College, Oxford, graduating in 1967. After university she worked in New York at the United Nations Secretariat and pursued research and writing related to Asian politics and culture. In 1972 she married the British scholar Michael Aris, and the couple lived between Oxford and the Himalayas, spending a period in Bhutan, where he worked as a tutor to the royal family. They had two sons, Alexander and Kim, and sustained a family life rooted in scholarship, public service, and a cosmopolitan outlook.

Return to Burma and Political Awakening
Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to care for her ailing mother. She arrived amid nationwide protests calling for an end to one-party military rule. Drawing on her father's legacy of civic leadership and her own convictions about nonviolent change, she stepped into public life, delivering a landmark address at the Shwedagon Pagoda that called for democratic reform. That year she became a leading figure in the newly formed National League for Democracy (NLD), alongside colleagues such as the former army chief Tin Oo and veteran diplomat Aung Shwe, as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) consolidated power after a bloody crackdown.

House Arrest and 1990 Election
In July 1989, the military placed Suu Kyi under house arrest. Despite her confinement, the NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election, a result the junta annulled. Through this period, she became an international symbol of nonviolent resistance, echoing traditions associated with Gandhi and rooted in Burmese Buddhist ethics. Separated from her family in the United Kingdom, she refused to leave the country in exchange for freedom, fearing she would be barred from return. Her husband, Michael Aris, and their sons advocated for her internationally; Aris died in 1999, unable to see her in Burma in his final illness.

International Recognition and Continuing Detention
Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her commitment to democracy and human rights, honors that joined the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and later the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. Her sons collected awards on her behalf while she remained confined. Intermittent releases and restrictions marked the late 1990s and 2000s. After a brief period of political activity in 2002, her convoy was attacked in 2003 near Depayin; she was detained again. A 2009 incident involving an American intruder who swam to her lakeside home led to further charges and extended detention under the regime of Senior General Than Shwe.

Transition to Electoral Politics
A political opening followed the installation of a quasi-civilian government headed by President Thein Sein in 2011. Suu Kyi met Thein Sein, signaling a tentative thaw. The NLD contested the 2012 by-elections, and she won a parliamentary seat for Kawhmu Township. The party's resurgence culminated in the 2015 general election, when the NLD achieved a sweeping victory. Because the 2008 Constitution barred anyone with foreign spouses or children from the presidency, the NLD nominated Htin Kyaw, a close confidant, as president. Suu Kyi became State Counsellor, a role created to allow her to coordinate the government, and also served as foreign minister. She worked closely with party stalwarts such as Tin Oo and Win Htein and navigated a fraught relationship with the military, whose commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, retained control over key ministries and substantial political leverage.

Peace Process and Governance
In office, Suu Kyi sought to advance peace negotiations with ethnic armed organizations through the 21st Century Panglong Conference, invoking her father's 1947 Panglong Agreement as a moral template. She inherited an economy in transition, a fragmented state, and a constitution that entrenched military prerogatives. She balanced a reform agenda with pragmatic ties to the military and to powerful figures in the former ruling party, including legislative leaders like Shwe Mann, who played a role in parliamentary cooperation during the reform period.

Rakhine State Crisis and Global Backlash
Her government faced its gravest challenge in Rakhine State, where attacks by militants in 2016 and 2017 prompted a sweeping military response that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Bangladesh. While an Advisory Commission on Rakhine State chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed long-term remedies, the crisis escalated and drew intense international condemnation. Suu Kyi's defense of Myanmar's position at the International Court of Justice in 2019, where she argued the state would investigate and punish abuses under domestic law, shook her global reputation. Several institutions revoked honors previously bestowed on her, even as many supporters in Myanmar continued to view her as the guardian of national sovereignty confronting a powerful military and complex communal tensions.

Second Landslide and the 2021 Military Coup
The NLD won another commanding mandate in the November 2020 election. On February 1, 2021, the military detained Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and senior NLD figures, nullified the electoral outcome, and declared a state of emergency. Military courts subsequently tried Suu Kyi behind closed doors on a cascade of charges, including corruption and violations of administrative regulations, imposing sentences that accumulated to decades of imprisonment. In 2023 the authorities announced limited pardons that modestly reduced her sentences, but she remained in detention. The coup upended a decade of political opening and reignited nationwide resistance, leaving the country in deep crisis.

Personal Circle and Influence
Throughout her journey, Suu Kyi's identity has been shaped by the legacy of her parents, the steadfast support of her late husband Michael Aris, and the quiet resilience of her sons Alexander and Kim. Within Burma, she collaborated closely with NLD elders like Tin Oo and Aung Shwe, and later with Htin Kyaw and President Win Myint during the party's period in government. Her political life unfolded against the power of military leaders from Ne Win to Than Shwe and Min Aung Hlaing, whose decisions repeatedly circumscribed the civilian sphere. Internationally, exchanges with figures such as Kofi Annan reflected attempts to connect Myanmar's reforms to global norms.

Legacy
Aung San Suu Kyi's legacy is complex and continues to evolve. For many Burmese, she symbolizes the aspiration for civilian rule under the rule of law and the continuity of Aung San's unfulfilled vision. For many abroad, admiration for her nonviolent struggle is tempered by profound disillusionment over the handling of the Rakhine crisis. Yet whether celebrated or criticized, she remains the central civilian figure in Myanmar's modern political narrative, a leader whose personal sacrifices, electoral victories, and years of confinement are inseparable from the country's long struggle to reconcile military power, ethnic diversity, and democratic legitimacy.

Our collection contains 15 quotes who is written by Daw, under the main topics: Motivational - Leadership - Learning - Freedom - Peace.