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Hindustan Times
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Asia's forgotten hellscape
The world is not exactly short of crises. But one of the most alarming is also the most overlooked: an escalating state of anarchy in Myanmar, in the heart of Asia. The country is degenerating into a violent state of nature. Over 2m of its people are on the verge of starvation. The effects of crime, including drug-dealing, huge scam centres and human trafficking, spread far beyond its borders. What is taking place inside Myanmar is a disaster, but it matters for another, more abstract reason, too. America and Europe have walked away from what was once an influential role in the country. Instead, the hellscape is unfolding under the watch of China, which has gradually become the dominant outside power. Its cynicism and indifference in Myanmar are an ominous demonstration of its values-free foreign policy in action. Myanmar has a desperate past. After a coup in 1962, it suffered 49 years of military rule. Between 2011 and 2021, the army relinquished some power, and for a while that allowed Aung San Suu Kyi, a liberal darling of the West, to front a government. Even in those years there were severe human-rights violations, including pogroms against the Rohingya minority. In 2021 the army fully retook power in a coup. Since then, a sinister junta has been engaged in a civil war with a swirling cast of dozens of armed-resistance groups, freedom fighters and bandits, turning a country the size of Ukraine into a bewildering and bloody mess. As the West has lost interest, China has become more powerful. Its conduct is pragmatic rather than ideological, and it will do business with anyone who has power, money or guns. It has worked with Ms Suu Kyi, and now co-operates with the junta and also with the resistance groups and militias. It uses its influence and control over ammunition and weapon supplies to shape the fighting in order to safeguard its interests. These include protecting a 2,500km energy pipeline from the Indian Ocean. This gives China an alternative supply route that bypasses the strait of Malacca and might become vital in the event of a war over Taiwan. China also wants to maintain its access to minerals and other resources, protect infrastructure built under its Belt and Road Initiative, tamp down on scammers targeting Chinese citizens, and keep the West out of a country adjacent to its own southern border. China plays all sides, arming, threatening and coaxing them into meeting its demands. The results are lethal. Amid mounting hunger, the size of the economy has fallen by a quarter in nominal terms since 2019. The picture could get worse. China is pushing General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta's chief, to hold a sham election later this year, designed to provide a figleaf of legitimacy. That could trigger a surge in violence as resistance groups seek to disrupt an illegitimate process. More chaos could spill across the borders Myanmar shares with Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand. Having been mistakenly star-struck by Ms Suu Kyi's leadership in the 2010s, the West has abandoned the groups fighting for democracy. Today America and Europe could still help Myanmar by increasing their humanitarian assistance, publicising abuses and backing pro-democracy forces in any negotiations and even on the battlefield. But the Trump administration has cut aid to Myanmar and Europe is preoccupied with security on its own eastern border. Given Western neglect, Myanmar's best long-term hope is either that pro-democracy groups eventually consolidate and win the civil war, or that Myanmar's other neighbours, such as India and Thailand, strive for a just peace. Despite all the talk of a multi-polar world in which power and responsibility are more evenly spread, neighbouring countries have so far tended to back the junta and have encouraged other states to normalise relations with it. Yet over time they may come to recognise that only a more democratic Myanmar will provide the stability they crave. Until then, the war will continue and the liberal future that some Burmese are fighting for will remain out of reach. China's growing power and pursuit of its own priorities, the West's shrinking view of its own interests, and the apathy of everyone else have consigned a country to misery. That makes Myanmar not just a tragedy—but also a warning. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
Daily Tribune
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Tribune
Auction of Suu Kyi's Myanmar mansion fails for fourth time
Myanmar authorities failed to auction off Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside mansion yesterday -- the fourth time the sale of the jailed Nobel peace laureate's property has attracted no bidders. A court-appointed auctioneer emerged from the rusty gate of the sprawling two-storey pile on Yangon's leafy University Avenue Road to offer it at a discounted $128 million starting price. Surveyed by a gaggle of journalists and around a dozen police, the auctioneer asked for bidders three times before proclaiming: 'We hereby announce that the auction is not successful.' Suu Kyi has been jailed since being deposed by a 2021 military coup but spent years under house arrest at the historic property during a previous period of junta rule. After lengthy legal wrangling her estranged brother has won the rights to half of the villa. Its sale is being overseen by junta-appointed officials and Suu Kyi is entitled to half of the proceeds. During her house arrest at 54 University Avenue Road, Suu Kyi would make speeches at the boundary fence -- drawing crowds of hundreds with lofty rhetoric about democracy and non-violent resistance. Myanmar's decade-long democratic experiment saw Suu Kyi become the elected figurehead after her release in 2010, and the colonial-era home was where she steered its nascent civilian government. As the country began to recover from pariah status it saw a series of landmark visits from foreign leaders including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Since the military snatched back power, Suu Kyi has been jailed in the capital Naypyidaw on a litany of charges critics have slammed as farcical and designed to remove her from politics.
The Independent
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Myanmar puts Aung Sang Suu Kyi's house on auction for fourth time but finds no buyers
Myanmar 's authorities have once again put ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi 's lakeside mansion up for auction – marking the fourth time it has failed to attract any bidders. Ms Suu Kyi's colonial-styled private villa near Yangon 's scenic Inya lake is a historic landmark. Located on University Avenue, the two-storey house spread across 1.9 acres (7,700sqm), is where she spent nearly 15 years under house arrest and became a global icon of non-violent resistance, for which she earned the Nobel Peace Prize. On Tuesday, a court-appointed auctioneer emerged from the rusty gates of the mansion to start the bidding with starting price of 270 billion kyats (£102m) – a value that has reduced with each attempt to sell it off, falling from the initial £113.6m court-ordered asking price last year. The auctioneer raised the bids three times as per protocol but received no offers, before declaring, 'We hereby announce that the auction is not successful'. The auction was conducted in front of journalists and police outside the Yangon mansion, which once served as an unofficial headquarters for Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. Ms Suu Kyi remains in solitary confinement with her whereabouts unknown at the hands of ruling military junta since February 2021, the day when her democratically elected government was overthrown in a military coup. She was detained along with dozens of other leaders and activists, and a court later handed her a combined 27-year sentence after convicting her on a string of criminal charges that her supporters say were fabricated to discredit her. The property was given decades ago by the government to Ms Suu Kyi's mother, Khin Kyi, after her husband, independence hero General Aung San, was assassinated in July 1947. However, the property has remained in the midst of political and legal dispute after her estranged elder brother Aung San Oo mounted a legal challenge for a share in it. He successfully petitioned the court in 2019 to authorise the sale of the property and to claim an equal share of the proceeds. Despite several attempts to auction the property, the house has struggled to find a buyer, partly due to its political significance and the broader instability in Myanmar following the 2021 military coup. The junta has remained silent on the matter, but the repeated auctions are seen by some as a desperate attempt to erase Ms Suu Kyi's legacy, especially as she remains imprisoned following a series of convictions widely viewed as politically motivated. The auction was also challenged by the shadow government formed in Myanmar after the 2021 military coup that is coordinating opposition to the military government. Duwa Lashi La, acting president of the National Unity Government, declared that the property is a cultural heritage site and prohibited its sale or destruction. The house, which Ms Suu Kyi used for political work, saw a series of landmark visits from foreign leaders, including leaders such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as former UN secretary-general general Ban Ki-moon. The first attempt to auction the house failed in March 2024 followed by a second in August in the same year. The third auction bid happened in February 2025 before the latest again failed.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Myanmar auction fails again to attract bidders for the historic home of ousted leader Suu Kyi
BANGKOK (AP) — A fourth attempt by Myanmar's authorities to sell by the home of imprisoned former leader Aung San Suu Kyi by auction failed Tuesday when there were no bidders for the property, where she famously was held under house arrest for almost 15 years, a legal official said. It was not immediately clear if the floor price — the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars — was simply too high or whether warnings by opponents of Myanmar's military government not to buy the house substantially dampened demand. The 1.9-acre (7,700 square meter) family property on Inye Lake in Yangon, the country's largest city, is viewed by many in Myanmar as a historic landmark because of its close association with Suu Kyi's long nonviolent struggle against military rule for which she won the Nobel Peace Prize. A legal official familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information, said there had been no bidders at the court-ordered auction held in front of the gates of the property, which once served as an unofficial headquarters for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. The auction followed a bitter decades-long legal dispute between Suu Kyi and her estranged older brother, Aung San Oo, who sought an equal division of the property. Proceeds from the sale were supposed to be split between her and him. Suu Kyi's lawyers had challenged the auction order. The floor price on Tuesday was set at 270 billion kyats, which is more than $128 million at official rates, or about $62 million at black-market rates, which better reflects the real value of Myanmar's currency. It had been reduced from its previous floor price of 297 billion kyats, about $141 million at the official exchange rate, for the last failed auction in February last year. Opponents of army rule have publicly discouraged the sale, seeing it as part of the persecution of Suu Kyi, who was arrested in February 2021 when the military seized power from her elected government. They say the property — where Suu Kyi hosted U.S. President Barack Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others — is a cultural heritage that must not be sold, demolished or redeveloped. Many business people with the wherewithal to make multi-million dollar purchases are widely seen as cronies of the ruling military. However, buying the property would make them targets of forces opposed to army rule. Several business figures and bureaucrats have been assassinated by opponents of military rule during Myanmar's civil war, which has pitted the army against resistance forces comprising pro-democracy fighters and ethnic minority guerrilla groups. The property and its two-story colonial-style building was given decades ago by the government to Suu Kyi's mother, Khin Kyi, after her husband, independence hero Gen. Aung San, was assassinated in July 1947. Suu Kyi, 79, remained there after her 2010 release from house arrest until moving in 2012 to the capital, Naypyitaw, to serve in parliament. She became the nation's leader after a 2015 general election. She is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after a series of cases brought by the military. Her lawyers have not been allowed to meet with her since they last saw her since December 2022. According to legal procedures, the court will continue to handle the auction process, but the details are not yet available.
San Francisco Chronicle
29-04-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Myanmar auction fails again to attract bidders for the historic home of ousted leader Suu Kyi
BANGKOK (AP) — A fourth attempt by Myanmar's authorities to sell by the home of imprisoned former leader Aung San Suu Kyi by auction failed Tuesday when there were no bidders for the property, where she famously was held under house arrest for almost 15 years, a legal official said. It was not immediately clear if the floor price — the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars — was simply too high or whether warnings by opponents of Myanmar's military government not to buy the house substantially dampened demand. The 1.9-acre (7,700 square meter) family property on Inye Lake in Yangon, the country's largest city, is viewed by many in Myanmar as a historic landmark because of its close association with Suu Kyi's long nonviolent struggle against military rule for which she won the Nobel Peace Prize. A legal official familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information, said there had been no bidders at the court-ordered auction held in front of the gates of the property, which once served as an unofficial headquarters for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. The auction followed a bitter decades-long legal dispute between Suu Kyi and her estranged older brother, Aung San Oo, who sought an equal division of the property. Proceeds from the sale were supposed to be split between her and him. Suu Kyi's lawyers had challenged the auction order. The floor price on Tuesday was set at 270 billion kyats, which is more than $128 million at official rates, or about $62 million at black-market rates, which better reflects the real value of Myanmar's currency. It had been reduced from its previous floor price of 297 billion kyats, about $141 million at the official exchange rate, for the last failed auction in February last year. Opponents of army rule have publicly discouraged the sale, seeing it as part of the persecution of Suu Kyi, who was arrested in February 2021 when the military seized power from her elected government. They say the property — where Suu Kyi hosted U.S. President Barack Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others — is a cultural heritage that must not be sold, demolished or redeveloped. Many business people with the wherewithal to make multi-million dollar purchases are widely seen as cronies of the ruling military. However, buying the property would make them targets of forces opposed to army rule. Several business figures and bureaucrats have been assassinated by opponents of military rule during Myanmar's civil war, which has pitted the army against resistance forces comprising pro-democracy fighters and ethnic minority guerrilla groups. The property and its two-story colonial-style building was given decades ago by the government to Suu Kyi's mother, Khin Kyi, after her husband, independence hero Gen. Aung San, was assassinated in July 1947. Suu Kyi, 79, remained there after her 2010 release from house arrest until moving in 2012 to the capital, Naypyitaw, to serve in parliament. She became the nation's leader after a 2015 general election. She is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after a series of cases brought by the military. Her lawyers have not been allowed to meet with her since they last saw her since December 2022. According to legal procedures, the court will continue to handle the auction process, but the details are not yet available.
