Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi at 81: son pays tribute to mother’s spirit that ‘cannot be caged’

The son of Myanmar’s jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said his mother’s “spirit cannot be caged”, in a moving video greeting for her 81st birthday – a milestone she again marks while confined by the junta. Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader until the 2021 coup removed her administration, was jailed for 33 years following that military takeover on charges including election fraud and corruption. International observers and her pro-democracy supporters say the allegations were entirely fabricated to remove her from the political scene as the junta seized power. The 2021 coup – led by then senior general Min Aung Hlaing – has plunged the country into civil war. Thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced as rebels fight the junta across swathes of the country. In April, the junta said Suu Kyi, who founded the National League for Democracy party, had been moved to house arrest after her sentence was reduced to 18 years. But it remains unclear where she is being held, while the health of an elderly woman who has spent a quarter of her life in military detention and house arrest has not been verified by independent doctors. On Friday, one of her two sons, Kim Aris, took to social media to mark his mother’s sixth consecutive birthday in detention. Lighting a candle on a cake and referring to his mother as “Maymay”, he said it was the sixth birthday in a row where he was unable to see her in person and “to see your smile, hear your voice and tell you how much you are loved”. “Although we do not know where you are being held, or if you are well, your spirit cannot be caged,” he added. “This regime may keep you cruelly isolated from the outside world, but this is one thing they can never suppress.” Aris, born to Suu Kyi and her now deceased British husband and academic Michael Aris, has previously said the junta has given him no proof of his mother’s life. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle against Myanmar’s military, which has ruled with an iron fist for most of the country’s 75-year post-independence history. But her reputation as a global beacon of resistance and democracy was battered by the genocide of the Muslim Rohingya minority, driven by the military but which took place under a government led by her. The daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero Aung San, Suu Kyi has spent 20 years of her life in confinement – including time under house arrest – devoted to battling authoritarian rule in the Southeast Asian nation. The military first arrested Suu Kyi in 1989 and held her under house arrest for most of the next 15 years while the junta sought to defang the pro-democracy movement she helmed. Her release in 2010 came as a combination of international pressure and economic malaise persuaded the military to embark on a short-lived period of liberalisation and reforms. That resulted in elections in 2015 that saw Suu Kyi secure a landslide victory among a public desperate for greater democracy and freedoms after years of isolation under the paranoid junta. Yet the military kept its interests firmly secured inside power. A specifically crafted clause in the constitution also prohibited Suu Kyi from becoming president, despite her widespread popularity. Instead, she took the title of state counsellor as she was forced to lead from behind the scenes. Still, her National League for Democracy party won another election in late 2020 by a second landslide, rattling the military, which carried out a coup just a few months later. Min Aung Hlaing held new elections late last year, which military proxy parties won comfortably. The opposition either boycotted the polls or was banned, and elections could not be held in conflict areas beyond military control. He has since rebranded as a civilian president and has been on a diplomatic mission to see the country return to the international fold after years of being frozen out for his coup, visiting China this week and India last month. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has yet to fully restore Myanmar’s status within the group, although some members – including Thailand – have signalled that Naypyidaw may be welcomed back into the regional fold. The military, which has reintroduced conscription, appears to have also made some key territorial gains in recent months, especially near the crucial border areas with China. Embassies in Myanmar on Friday joined the calls for Suu Kyi and hundreds of other prisoners of conscience to be freed. In a social media post, Canada’s mission said it “renews its call for her unconditional release and access to independent medical care”, and urged the freedom of all political prisoners “and an immediate end to the violence – essential steps towards establishing a meaningful, credible and inclusive dialogue for the people of Myanmar”. Her son Aris ended his short video with a moving hope for her good health and safety. “If you could see us today, I know you would be deeply humbled by the immense global support, the flood of well-wishes for your 81st birthday and the echoing calls for your unconditional release,” he said. “So wherever you are, Maymay, please know I am sending you all my love.”

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi at 81: son pays tribute to mother’s spirit that ‘cannot be caged’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}In a video, Kim Aris notes it is the sixth birthday in a row he has been unable to see his mother in person, as calls for her release continue

In a video, Kim Aris notes it is the sixth birthday in a row he has been unable to see his mother in person, as calls for her release continue