Where Is Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi? Son Demands Proof Of Life

More than three years have passed since Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was last seen in public. Her family, the United Nations and Southeast Asian leaders have all asked Myanmar's military government to prove that the Nobel Peace Prize winner is alive.

The 81-year-old has not made a public appearance since the end of her military trial in late 2022. Since then, there has been no confirmation of where she is being held or what her health condition is. 

Even her lawyers have not been allowed to meet her since she was arrested after Myanmar's military overthrew her elected government in a coup in February 2021.

Now, Suu Kyi's younger son, Kim Aris, is travelling to several countries and asking governments to put pressure on Myanmar's military rulers to provide what he calls "proof of life" that his mother is alive and safe, reported The Economist.

Speaking in London, Aris said his biggest fear was that his mother disappeared from public view and nobody outside the military was allowed to see or speak to her for years.

The junta has repeatedly said she is in good health but has not provided any evidence. The only material released publicly is a single photograph showing Suu Kyi speaking to a police officer and an army officer inside an unidentified building.

Aris has questioned whether the image is genuine or recent, adding there is nothing in the photograph that proves when it was taken.

Myanmar's military government claimed in April this year that Suu Kyi had been moved from prison to house arrest. However, it has rejected repeated requests from foreign diplomats and international organisations to visit her. 

Aris also said that his mother is not staying at her longtime home in Yangon, where she spent many years under house arrest before becoming Myanmar's civilian leader. He added that her residence in the capital Naypyidaw has reportedly been demolished and it is unclear where she is being kept.

"To keep that under wraps would be impossible. It may be that the general's profound dislike for his political rival, as one ambassador puts it, is sufficient explanation for why he is keeping her isolated," Morgan Michaels, a Myanmar expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Economist.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised Aung San Suu Kyi's case during talks with Myanmar's military ruler, Min Aung Hlaing, in New Delhi. In May, UN Special Envoy Julie Bishop also asked to meet Suu Kyi, but the request was not accepted. Diplomats said the junta chief became angry whenever Suu Kyi's name was mentioned.

On July 12, ASEAN foreign ministers again urged Myanmar to let someone meet Suu Kyi or at least confirm that she is alive. They said that allowing someone to visit Suu Kyi or publicly confirming that she is alive could improve Myanmar's damaged relationship with ASEAN and the United Nations.

Some diplomats fear she may be seriously ill or even dead because the military has refused to provide any proof of life. There is no evidence, though, to confirm that she has died.

Last month, Taichito, the floppy-eared dog that Kim Aris gave his mother after she was released from house arrest in 2010, died at the age of 15. The dog spent its final years at Suu Kyi's Yangon home, waiting for her to return.