Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Aung San Suu Kyi smiles over the gates of her residence where she was under house arrest. Khin Maung Win
up for grabs

Piece of history for sale as Aung San Suu Kyi's house gate goes up for auction

The seller says he won’t accept bids lower than €177,000.

A SET OF gates that became an enduring symbol of Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi’s years under house arrest are to be auctioned, a businessman who now owns them said today.

The gates — painted in the yellow and red colours of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party — were once located at the entrance to the crumbling Yangon mansion where Myanmar’s most famous political prisoner was confined for much of the 1990s and 2000s because of her outspoken opposition to military rule.

House arrest 

“They are my own property. I bought them while I was working on landscaping in Daw Suu’s compound after her release from house arrest,” Soe Nyunt, a restaurant owner, told AFP, using an honorific for Suu Kyi.

The businessman, an NLD supporter, said he would sell the gates to raise money both for the construction of the party’s new headquarters, and for upcoming centenary celebrations marking the birth of General Aung San, Suu Kyi’s father and the founder of modern day Myanmar.

He will not accept less than $200,000 (over €177,000) for the gates, he added.

“I think the international community will be interested. So I will wait some time before personally auctioning them,” Soe Nyunt said.

For sale 

During brief moments when restrictions against Suu Kyi were relaxed she would often greet well-wishers from the gates in acts of defiance against a junta that ruled Myanmar with an iron fist from 1962 to 2010.

When her house arrest was finally overturned that year — shortly before military rule was replaced with a quasi-civilian reformist government — large crowds of jubilant supporters surrounded the gates, clamouring to catch a glimpse of Suu Kyi and hand her bouquets of flowers.

The gates have since been replaced.

“If this great door can speak, it can narrate about the history of Burmese democracy combat for 25 years,” Soe Nyunt said.

“The price will be start from 200 million Kyats ($200,000),” the restaurant owner told AFP. “Of course, I will sell to whoever can give more.”

Since her release, Suu Kyi has been elected an MP and her party is gearing up for crucial countrywide elections later this year. The NLD is expected to win if polls are free and fair.

But the veteran democracy campaigner cannot stand for the presidency because a clause in the constitution bans those with a foreign spouse or children. Her two sons are British, as was her late husband.

- © AFP, 2015

Read: Thousands take part in anti-water charge protests across Ireland>

Read: Pictures: The most futuristic cruise ship on the planet has a cocktail bar staffed by robots>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
3
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.