State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)
As State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi marks her 78th birthday on Monday, The Irrawaddy traces some of her formative experiences both prior to and during her political career as Myanmar’s de-facto leader.
JUNE 19, 1945
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is born in Yangon—the third child and only daughter of Daw Khin Kyi and independence hero Aung San. Her father would later be assassinated when she was only two years old.
1949
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi starts her schooling at St. Francis Convent and then Methodist English High School—now Basic Education High School No. 1 Dagon—in Yangon.
1960
Fifteen-year-old Daw Aung San Suu Kyi moves to India with her mother, who was appointed Myanmar’s Ambassador to India and Nepal. She completes her education at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in New Delhi. She graduates from Lady Shri Ram College with a degree in politics in 1964.
1964
Headed to the United Kingdom, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi later obtains a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1969 from St Hugh’s College, Oxford. She works as an assistant researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
1969
Twenty-four-year-old Daw Aung San Suu Kyi serves as assistant secretary at the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions at the UN Secretariat in New York.
JANUARY 1, 1972
In New York, 26-year-old Daw Aung San Suu Kyi marries Dr. Michael Aris, a British scholar focused on Bhutan. Together, they move to the country, where Michael worked as a tutor to the royal family, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi served as a research officer at Bhutan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One year later, they return to Oxford in the UK, and have their first son, Alexander, in 1973. Their second, Kim, is born in 1977.
1975
Meanwhile, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi works at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, cataloguing Burmese manuscripts.
1985
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi becomes a visiting scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, doing research on Myanmar’s independence movement and her father, Gen Aung San.
1987
In pursuit of a doctoral degree at the School for Oriental and African Studies in London, she wrote a thesis on the role of the media in Myanmar’s independence struggle, from 1910-1945. She was a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in Simla.
AUGUST 26, 1988
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi returns to Myanmar—then under the rule of a military junta for more than 25 years—to take care of her ailing mother after Daw Khin Kyi suffers a stroke. She addresses the public in a rally at the western gate of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, marking her entry into politics.
SEPTEMBER 27, 1988
Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is established and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi serves as the general secretary.
DECEMBER 27, 1988
Daw Khin Kyi passes away. She urges Snr-Gen Saw Maung, Gen Khin Nyunt, Home and Religious Affairs Minister Maj-Gen Phone Myint, to honor the Snr-Gen’s promise to hold free and fair elections and return to a democratic system.
JANUARY 1989
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi travels to Irrawaddy Division to rally public support, and is threatened at gunpoint by soldiers during the trip.
JULY 20, 1989
She is placed under house arrest for the first time.
MAY 27, 1990
The NLD wins a landslide victory in 1990 elections, earning 392 of 447 parliamentary seats.
OCTOBER 14, 1991
While under house arrest, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia. Her husband Michael, and sons Alexander, and Kim Aris accept the award in Oslo, Norway on her behalf. They are allowed to visit her for the first time in August 1993.
FEBRUARY 15, 1994
She receives a delegation led by US Congressman Bill Richardson that includes Jehan Raheem, resident representative of the United National Development Programme, and Philip Shenon of the New York Times. They are the first visitors outside of her family since the house arrest.
AUGUST 7, 1994
Buddhist monk U Rewata Dhamma living in the UK’s Birmingham visits Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence in Yangon, paving the way for her meeting with Myanmar’s generals.
SEPTEMBER 20, 1994
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets ruling Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Secretary-1 Maj-Gen Khin Nyunt of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) at a government guesthouse.
OCTOBER 24, 1994
One month later, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets military leaders SLORC Secretary-1 Maj-Gen Khin Myint, Judge Advocate General Brig-Gen Than Oo, and Adjutant General Brig-Gen Tin Aye.
JULY 10, 1995
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is released after six years under house arrest—her husband and two sons return to Myanmar to visit her.
SEPTEMBER 1995
She meets with US Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright.
NOVEMBER 22, 1995
The NLD releases its declaration in the country’s National Convention, and proceeds to walk out of the event. The convention is later suspended indefinitely.
SEPTEMBER 27, 1996
The military regime bans the NLD from celebrating its eighth anniversary. The Myanmar Army places road blocks along the University Avenue Road where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house is located.
MARCH 27, 1999
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s husband of 27 years, Michael Aris, passes away in Oxford after a two-year battle with cancer. While his wife was free to leave the country to be with him, it was understood that if she has left, she would not have been able to return.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2000
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest for a second time.
JANUARY 22, 2002
She meets Snr-Gen Than Shwe
MAY 6, 2002
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is again released, this time after one-and-a-half years of house arrest.
MAY 30, 2003
In an incident that would be later known as the Depayin Massacre, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy of NLD staff and supporters comes under attack by a mob in Sagaing Division’s Depayin Township. Dozens are killed and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is initially jailed in Insein Prison.
MAY 31, 2003
She is sentenced under house arrest for the third time.
MAY 20, 2006
UN undersecretary general for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari meets Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
MAY 25, 2007
Her house arrest is extended for another year. It is extended again in May 2008.
SEPTEMBER 2007
In an anti-government uprising by Buddhist monks now known as the Saffron Revolution, demonstrators in Yangon march past Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house, where she is detained, and she is able to briefly greet them at the gate.
MAY 3, 2009
US citizen John Yettaw swims through Inya Lake and trespasses into the residence of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, two weeks before her scheduled release from house arrest on May 27. Her detention is extended for 18 more months.
AUGUST 19, 2010
The NLD central executive committee decides to boycott the general elections.
NOVEMBER 13, 2010
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is released after seven years of house arrest.
AUGUST 19, 2011
She meets President U Thein Sein for the first time in Naypyidaw.
DECEMBER 2, 2011
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on her visit to Myanmar.
APRIL 1, 2012
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi contests in the country’s by-elections and is elected to the Lower House from Yangon’s Kawhmu Township.
MAY 2012
For the first time in more than 20 years, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi travels outside of Myanmar, to Thailand. Later in the year, she also visits Europe, making stops in the UK, Switzerland, France and Norway.
NOVEMBER 19, 2012
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on their official visit to Myanmar—an American President’s first trip to the country.
OCTOBER 31, 2014
Fourteen-party discussions are held between President U Thein Sein, Myanmar Army Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and two vice-presidents.
NOVEMBER 14, 2014
US President Obama meets Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on his second visit to Myanmar.
APRIL 10, 2015
Six-party talks are held between President U Thein Sein, speakers of two houses, Myanmar Army Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and Dr. Aye Maung, an ethnic Rakhine representative.
NOVEMBER 2015
The NLD wins a landslide victory in general elections.
DECEMBER 4, 2015
Former Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meet at the former’s residence.
MARCH 30, 2016
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi takes on roles as the head of four ministries in the Cabinet: Foreign Affairs, the President’s Office, Electricity and Energy, and Education.
APRIL 6, 2016
The Union Parliament approves the appointment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as State Counselor of Myanmar. She retains positions as a minister of foreign affairs and of the President’s Office.
AUGUST 24, 2016
Calling it a “most important matter,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi forms an advisory commission on Rakhine State, headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, to identify “lasting solutions” in addressing violence and ethnoreligious tension in the region. In March 2017, the commission publicizes 30 recommendations for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government. She later rejects a UN fact-finding mission with a special focus on the region.
AUGUST 31, 2016
Amid ongoing armed conflict in the north of the country, the first session of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference convenes in Naypyidaw.
AUGUST 31, 2016
Amid ongoing armed conflict in the north of the country, the first session of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference convenes in Naypyidaw.
FEBRUARY 12, 2017
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi addresses the 70th Anniversary of Union Day at Shan State’s Panglong.
MAY 14, 2017
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi attends the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China’s Beijing.
MAY 24, 2017
The second session of the 21st Century Panglong peace conference convenes in Naypyidaw, with signatories to the nationwide ceasefire serving as “full participants,” and non-signatories invited as “special guests,” with many of the latter opting out. Representatives of the government, Parliament, Myanmar Army, political parties, and participating ethnic armed groups agree to 37 out of 41 basic principles—excluding issues of non-secession from the Union, equality, federalism, and self-determination. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi calls it “a significant step” toward a future Union.
DECEMBER 10-12, 2019
A delegation led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi defends Myanmar at the International Court of Justice against a lawsuit filed by Gambia over the genocide of the Rohingya.
NOVEMBER 8, 2020
The NLD wins a landslide victory in the general election. A total of 27 million people cast votes in the election, and the NLD wins 82 percent of the seats up for grabs. The international community also recognizes the election results.
FEBRUARY 1, 2021
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint, ministers of the NLD government and senior members of the party are detained as the Myanmar military led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing stages a coup over alleged electoral fraud.
Elected lawmakers of the 2020 general election form the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on Feb. 5. Subsequently, a shadow government, known as the National Unity Government (NUG) emerges on April 16. The shadow government is made up of ethnic politicians, activists and intellectuals. Mass protests call for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a statement released by the NLD immediately after the coup, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urges people not to accept the coup, and to respond by wholeheartedly protesting against it. In a handwritten note at the bottom, U Win Htein stresses that the statement is genuine and was made by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Prepared ahead of time in case of such a scenario, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s request has had an impact on the anti-coup movement.
MAY 24, 2021
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is put on trial in person in Naypyitaw, three months and eight days after her first court hearing was held via videoconferencing on Feb. 16. She subsequently faces an array of trumped-up charges.
JULY 26, 2021
The junta-appointed Union Election Commission nullifies the result of the 2020 general election, denying the NLD its landslide election victory.
MAY 24, 2022
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi passes a message through her legal team that the NLD was established for the people, so the party will be there as long as the people are.
JUNE 22, 2022
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been kept under house arrest until this time, is sent to Naypyitaw Prison three days after turning 77. Her aides are not allowed to assist her in prison.
AUGUST 17, 2022
United Nations special envoy on Myanmar Noleen Heyzer meets Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw during her first trip to Myanmar. Her request to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is denied. Before Heyzer, ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar Prak Sokhonn visited Myanmar twice and also failed to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
AUGUST 22, 2022
The junta-controlled Supreme Court rules in favor of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s elder brother U Aung San Oo in a bitter family dispute between the siblings, approving a petition from U Aung San Oo to auction the family home and share the proceeds.
The lakeside villa in Yangon is where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was held under house arrest for 15 years by the previous military regime.
NOVEMBER 2022
The junta arranges for three NLD members including Central Executive Committee member Daw Sandar Min to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw Prison. It is reported that Daw Sandar Min sought her jailed boss’ permission to reopen NLD offices, re-register for the junta’s proposed election, and contest the vote. Daw Sandar Min, however, tells the media that she explained what was happening outside, and that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not offer any comment.
The junta arranges another meeting between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and two members of the NLD Central Executive Committee in March 2023 but she refuses to meet them.
DECEMBER 30, 2022
A string of legal cases filed against the ousted State Counselor since the coup ends with a court session held behind closed doors in Naypyitaw handing her seven years for alleged corruption. The 77-year-old now faces a total of 33 years behind bars.
MARCH 28, 2023
The Myanmar junta dissolves 40 political parties including the NLD and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy that refused to register for the regime’s proposed poll.
JUNE 8, 2023
Pro-junta Buddhist monk U Ottamathara, the head of the Thabawa (Nature) Meditation Center in Yangon’s Thanlyin Township, visits NLD patron U Tin Oo on June 8, and suggested that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should leave politics and cooperate with the military regime to achieve peace in Myanmar.
JUNE 12, 2023
It is reported that the junta’s deputy prime minister and home affairs minister, Lieutenant General Soe Htut, its chief peace negotiator, Lieutenant General Yar Pyae, and retired Lieutenant General Khin Zaw Oo met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw Prison.
Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun later denies any such meeting took place, adding that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remains in Naypyitaw Prison.