Select Language:
Aung San Suu Kyi, the former leader of Myanmar, attended the 22nd ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Bangkok on November 4, 2019. — Reuters
Her son, Kim Aris, expresses concern about her deteriorating health, noting that there’s little information regarding her condition. He fears he might not even know if she has passed away. Aris told Reuters he hasn’t been in contact with his 80-year-old mother for years and has only received occasional, secondhand updates about her heart, bone, and gum issues since the military coup in 2021 that ousted her government.
While he dismisses Myanmar’s upcoming “sham” election, widely condemned by foreign governments as a façade to legitimize military rule, Aris suggests there might be a chance it could lead to some relief for his mother. “Her health issues are ongoing. No one has seen her in over two years. She’s been cut off from her legal team and her family,” he said in a Tokyo interview. “I don’t even know if she’s alive anymore.”
He speculates that Myanmar’s military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, might have his own motives regarding his mother. If Hlaing considers using her release or house arrest as a way to placate the population around or after the elections, that could be a positive step. A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military did not respond to requests for comment.
Myanmar’s military has a history of releasing prisoners on holidays or special occasions. Suu Kyi, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, was released in 2010 shortly after an election, ending a long period of detention primarily at her family estate near Yangon. She later became Myanmar’s de facto leader following the 2015 elections—the country’s first openly contested vote in over 25 years—though her global reputation suffered due to accusations of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
In the current turmoil, sparked by the 2021 coup that triggered widespread armed resistance, Suu Kyi faces a 27-year prison sentence on charges including incitement, corruption, and election fraud, all of which she denies. Aris believes she’s held in Naypyidaw, and the last letter he received from her two years ago mentioned concerns about the extreme temperatures in her cell during different seasons.
As international conflicts unfold worldwide, Aris worries that Myanmar’s situation is slipping from public consciousness. He is leveraging the upcoming phased elections—set for December 28—to urge countries like Japan to pressure the military junta and call for his mother’s release.
“The military’s trying to hold these elections, but everyone knows they’re unfair and far from free—it’s almost laughable, if it weren’t so tragic,” he said. “This may be one of the few chances we have. When my mother was highly regarded globally, it was much harder for the world to ignore what was happening in Myanmar. But since her credibility was weakened over the Rakhine crisis, that’s no longer the case,” he added, referencing the country’s former name.
A British citizen, Aris remained somewhat private until recently but maintains that his mother was “not complicit” in alleged military crimes against the Rohingya in 2016-17, despite her international reputation damage. During her time as the de facto leader, Myanmar’s constitution limited her control over the military, and she later acknowledged the possibility of war crimes during a Hague tribunal in 2020, though she denied genocide.
In Japan, Aris has engaged with lawmakers and officials, advocating for stronger opposition to the junta and the election process. When asked how his mother might view his activism, he responded, “She’d be very upset that I’ve had to step into this role. She always wanted me to stay out of politics. But I don’t have that luxury now—I’m her son, and if I don’t stand up for her, who will?”
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini AI
Grok AI
