Aung San Suu Kyi: Politician, Prisoner, Parent

Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI) - The City University of New York (CUNY)

Novelist Wendy Law-Yone, tracks Aung San Suu Kyis 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 nations struggles. The result is a unique portrait of a living legend, rendered by a compatriot and contemporary. Once deified by the international community for her advocacy of democracy and human rights, yet later vilified for her denial of the Burmese militarys genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, Aung San Suu Kyis 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.