Aung San Suu Kyi

Politician, Prisoner, Parent

By: Wendy Law-Yone

Narrated by: Ragini Kapil

POLITICIAN • PRISONER • PARENT

A portrait of one of the most charismatic, but unknown, world leaders

Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and crusader for democracy
in Myanmar, is once again behind bars. Her resounding victory at the polls, and re-election to office as civilian head of state, were overturned by the February 2021 military coup – a move with ruinous consequences.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been here before. The first half of her political career was spent under house arrest. But this time she has been disappeared into prison in Naypyidaw, following an array of charges clearly calculated to keep her out of politics and out of sight for the rest of her life. This time she is caught in a zero-sum game.

Once deified by the international community for her advocacy of democracy and human rights, yet later vilified for her denial of the Burmese military’s genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, Aung San Suu Kyi’s image survives largely untarnished within Myanmar. Her supporters refer to her as ‘Amay Suu’ (Mother Suu). Heir to the political and spiritual legacy of her father, General Aung San, independence hero and martyr, she remains the lodestar of nationalist aspirations, and matriarch for a nation in distress.

This book tracks Aung San Suu Kyi’s transformation from daughter of a national hero to materfamilias of Myanmar, placing her firmly within the context of the Burmese Buddhist notions of nationhood and motherhood and explaining her continuing role as the figurehead of the nation’s struggles. The result is a unique portrait of a living legend, rendered by a compatriot and contemporary, the novelist Wendy Law-Yone.

POLITICIAN

Decades spent spearheading the fight for democracy in Myanmar – following her father Aung San’s legacy as founder of the modern Burmese nation.

PRISONER

Having already spent half her political career under house arrest, in December 2022, Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

PARENT

To her exiled family and a nation.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

© 2023 Wendy Law-Yone (P) 2023 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

The biographical details

Short biography of Aung San Suu Kyi. Very good description of life and politics in Myanmar in 21st Century.