Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Guardian

    From peace icon to pariah: Aung San Suu Kyi's fall from grace

    Three years after she took power, Myanmar remains as repressive as ever. Were the warning signs there all along?
    by Hannah Ellis-Petersen South-east Asia correspondent Nov 23, 2018 7 minutes
    Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at a polling station during Myanmar’s first free and fair election on 8 November 2015. Photograph: Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images

    There are falls from grace, and then there is Aung San Suu Kyi. In 2015 her election to the post of state counsellor – de facto head of government – was hailed as a sea-change moment for Myanmar.

    Three years on, the feted Nobel peace prize winner has become a global pariah at the head of a regime that has excused a genocide, jailed journalists and locked up critics, leaving the international community wringing its hands as Myanmar remains as repressive as ever.

    Last week, Amnesty International became the latest organisation to strip Aung San Suu Kyi of a human rights award, citing its “profound disappointment” in her. Just days later, the 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar after a brutal military-led campaign of ethnic cleansing in August last year collectively refused to take part in a repatriation plan, due to Myanmar’s failure to ensure they had freedom, rights and safety. Many believe the Myanmar government, which Aung San Suu Kyi leads, has no intention of taking back the Rohingya at all.

    “While she has always been a politician, she used to be a politician that stood for democracy and human rights, including freedom of the press,” said Bill Richardson, a US diplomat who has known Aung San Suu Kyi for 25 years. “She

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Guardian

    The Guardian4 min read
    Lawn And Order: The Evergreen Appeal Of Grass-cutting In Video Games
    Jessica used to come for tea on Tuesdays, and all she wanted to do was cut grass. Every week, we’d click The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s miniature disc into my GameCube and she’d ready her sword. Because she was a couple of years younger than m
    The Guardian4 min read
    Khaled Khalifa obituary
    The writings of the Syrian author Khaled Khalifa, who has died aged 59 of a heart attack, depict a world of bloody conflict, but one where flowers still bloom. In his books, which are often read as eulogies for Syria, and especially his beloved city
    The Guardian4 min read
    Critics Of Napoleon Epic Have Fallen For Emperor’s Fibs, Says Film’s Military Expert
    Critics of the “damaging” and “inaccurate” portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s new cinematic epic Napoleon are just victims of the French emperor’s enduring propaganda, according to the military adviser behind the film’s vast battle sce

    Related Books & Audiobooks