Following the death of long-serving National League for Democracy (NLD) patron U Tin Oo on June 1, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, once the youngest co-founder in 1988, now stands as the party’s sole and oldest leader.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was just 41 when the party was established in 1988 following a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests. She turned 79 on Wednesday – her fourth birthday behind bars since the NLD government was ousted in the 2021 military coup.
Other founding members, such as U Kyi Maung, U Aung Shwe and U Lwin of the Patriotic Old Comrades’ League, who guided the party during the house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo by the previous regime, have also passed away.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi once described ex-brigadier general U Aung Shwe and former colonel U Lwin as “guardians” of the NLD’s survival when the party faced fierce pressure and threats from junta authorities. Former general U Tin Oo was the last of the NLD’s “Khaki guardians” to die.
Members of the other founding faction, which included intellectuals like Hanthawaddy U Win Tin and U Moe Thu, have also passed away. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is now left alone to continue the democratic struggle.
U Kyi Maung, U Aung Shwe, U Lwin and U Tin Oo joined the army as young men to fight the British and Japanese for independence. They served in the military until they were forced to retire by the dictator Ne Win after he came to power in 1962.
They took charge of the NLD while Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest in the 1990s and early 2000s. They led the party to victory in the 1990 general elections and managed to keep it largely intact when the junta ignored the poll result and attempted to disband the party in 1991. They also led the party’s boycott of the sham election held by the previous regime in 2010.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi praised her quartet of military veterans during the 2020 election campaign: “They view me as a commander and are very loyal. They are dutiful, like father and uncle to me.”
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest three times for a total of 15 years between 1989 and 2010. She was first detained in July 1989, one month after her 42nd birthday, and again in 2000 and 2003.
Her popularity never waned in all those years, and she was greeted by overwhelming public support when released in 2010. Five years later she led the NLD to a landslide victory in the 2015 general election, forming the first civilian government in 50 years since 1962 – a watershed moment in Myanmar’s modern history. Most of her cabinet members were younger than the then 65-year-old leader.
The tremendous popularity that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD enjoy has been a constant thorn in the side of Myanmar’s military leadership. Emerging as the torchbearer of democracy after 1988, the party has suffered intense persecution by successive military regimes.
Following another NLD landslide in the 2020 election, Army chief Min Aung Hlaing staged a coup and jailed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and almost the entire NLD cabinet. The military takeover and subsequent bloody crackdown triggered a popular armed revolt against the junta.
After canceling the election result and dissolving the NLD, Min Aung Hlaing’s regime targeted NLD officials and party members with arrests and killings, while confiscating their property. The current junta’s persecution of the NLD has been significantly harsher than that of its predecessors. NLD members and elected lawmakers have meanwhile helped to form the parallel National Unity Government, joining their ethnic allies in the fight against military dictatorship.
As the regime took steps to disband the NLD in 2021, a defiant Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told her lawyers: “The NLD was established for the people so the party will exist as long as the people do.”
Back then, ex-colonel U Kyi Maung, U Lwin, U Aung Shwe and U Tin Oo were there to take care of the NLD as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was imprisoned by the junta. Now they are gone, and the party’s last remaining leader remains behind bars in the junta’s fortress of Naypyitaw.
One vital question arises: Have Myanmar’s people forgotten Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as she languishes in custody during a critical period for the country?
The military’s frequent imprisonment of the democracy icon is aimed at isolating her from the people during critical times.
So far, it’s attempts have failed and even proven counterproductive. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi retains unrivalled popularity among Myanmar people despite being cut off from the outside world since 2021. City and rural folk from all walks of life, and young resistance fighters across the country, have prayed for her and all other political prisoners’ release at this time of year since 2021, staging flower strikes and other events to mark her birthday.
Arrests of flower strikers in 2023 failed to deter nationwide protests this year, with seven Mandalay residents detained on Wednesday morning for marking her birthday with blooms.
In another example of the depth of national feeling, anti-regime group Octopus staged a flashmob protest in Yangon on Wednesday. A woman young enough to be Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s granddaughter held a red banner depicting a rose and the word “Suu” emblazoned in white.
The word “Suu” was enough to terrify the junta while the rose stood for the flower strike that people were staging to mark her birthday, Octopus explained.
“Along with the people of Myanmar, we wish Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners a speedy freedom, long lives and greatness,” the group said in its statement.
