Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician. She is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. On December 6, 2021, the Myanmar special court sentenced her to 4 years of prison for violating corona virus restrictions. This has drawn worldwide criticisms.

Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?

• Aung San Suu Kyi served as the State Counsellor of Myanmar between 2016 and 2021. The post is equivalent to that of the Prime Ministerial post. She is the youngest daughter of Aung San. Aung San is the Father of Myanmar.
• She was detained before elections in 1989 and house arrested for 15 years. This made her one of the world’s most prominent political prisoner.
• She was called the “Children of Gandhi”.

8888 Uprising

Aung San Suu Kyi became famous through 8888 uprising.  The 8888 uprising is also called People Power Uprising. It includes a series of protests throughout Myanmar. It was caused by withdrawal of currency notes without compensation, police brutality, economic mismanagement, totalitarian one – party rule of Ne Win, corruption. It led to the resignation of Ne Win.

Why was Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to jail recently?

She was sentenced to be prisoned for two charges. They are inciting the public against the military of Myanmar and also for breaching COVID1-19 protocols. Currently, she is facing 11 charges that can bring a maximum imprisonment of 102 years. The other major controversial cases against her are as follows:

• Alleged use of walkie – talkies by her security guards
• Corruption in granting permits to buy a helicopter
• Violating the Official Secrets Act

What is the issue?

Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of National League for Democracy. The military of Myanmar holds 25% of total seats in the parliament. In 2021, the a newly elected lawmakers were to hold the first session of the parliament. The military imposed a state of emergency just before the session citing voting fraud in the elections. Through emergency, the military grabbed the power in coup. This was the third time the military grabbed  power in Myanmar since its independence from British rule in 1948. Following the coup, Aung San Suu Kyi was detained.  Such scenarios where military grabs power is called coup de tat.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2021