Aung San Suu Kyi (19 June 1945-) was the State Counsellor (Prime Minister) of Myanmar from 6 April 2016 to 1 February 2021, succeeding Thein Sein and preceding Min Aung Hlaing. As leader of the National League for Democracy, she became a leading pro-democracy activist in the country during its decades-long military rule, leading to her imprisonment from 1989 to 2010. Her party won the 2016 elections, restoring democracy to Burma, and she served as head of government of Burma, despite being barred from the presidency itself because of her marriage to a British citizen. While she had received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism, she drew criticism for failing to prevent the Tatmadaw's genocidal campaigns against Rohingya Muslims and other nationalities within Burma, and the military ultimately overthrew her on 1 February 2021 after accusing her government of rigging the 2020 elections.
Biography[]
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on 19 June 1945 in Rangoon, British Burma, the daughter of independence fighter Aung San, who was assassinated when she was only two years old. Her mother Khin Kyi became involved in politics, and Aung San Suu Kyi worked with the United Nations for three years, meeting her husband Dr. Michael Aris while working there. She lived abroad for many years, and she returned to Burma in 1988, the same year as the 8888 Uprising. She gave a speech calling for democratic government on 26 August 1988, but the Tatmadaw later asserted control of the government in September, and she entered politics to push for the country's democratization. She co-founded the National League for Democracy, and, on 20 July 1989 she was imprisoned by the military government for her pro-democracy activism. She was released on 13 November 2010 after much protesting and popular support for her cause, and her husband died of prostate cancer while she was under house arrest. Her husband was a national of the United Kingdom, so she was unable to run for President according to a section of the Constitution of Burma, but the NLD won the 2016 elections, allowing for democracy to be restored to the country. Aung San Suu Kyi became State Counsellor (Prime Minister), as her husband's British nationality barred her from serving as President, but her reputation as a staunch defender of democracy was tarnished by allegations of justifying the military's genocidal campaigns against the nation's Rohingya Muslims and other minority groups. Her party won re-election on 8 November 2020, but the military claimed that the elections had been rigged, and Min Aung Hlaing and the Tatmadaw deposed and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in a military coup on 1 February 2021 and established a new dictatorship.