Photo of Aung San in his student years perched above daughter Aung San Suu Kyi’s gate in Yangon on March 16, 2015. PHOTO/COCONUTS MEDIA
It’s a picture worth a thousand words – or a thousand interpretations – and it happens to be outside Aung San Suu Kyi’s house.
As journalists, tourists and visitors to Myanmar well know, the photo above Suu Kyi’s front gate in Yangon has long been that of her father, “Bogyoke” (“General”) Aung San, the father of Burmese independence. The photo was taken when he was an adult, in his freedom fighter years (he was assassinated in 1947).
But at some point in recent months, as posts on social media, travel blogs and news reports indicate, the portrait was swapped out for one as Aung San … as a student.
In addition to being a revered founding father, Aung San was one of the most famous student leaders in Burmese history. In the 1930s, he was at the forefront of student unions and edited a student magazine. He and the future prime minister, U Nu, were both briefly kicked out of school for their activism.
Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) have taken a lot of flak for not coming out swinging in support of the student protests that have rocked Myanmar for months, leading to the arrests of dozens in the central town of Letpadan on March 10.
While the NLD has called for an investigation into the Letpadan crackdown, the party – perhaps with its eyes on elections later this year – has hardly been a vocal champion of the movement. Suu Kyi called on students to negotiate and her party went so far as to threaten with legal action temporary NLD member and education reformer Thein Lwin for his participation in talks in early February on the National Education Law. The students want the law amended to provide for more academic freedoms, and are demonstrating with that goal in mind.
But could she be signaling her support in a less obvious manner, with say, one single photo, or could it be pure coincidence? The student movement heated up around September, when the law was first passed. The image, however, could also be related to celebrations this year for the 100th anniversary of Aung San’s birth, celebrations for which are ongoing.
In a response to a March 13 tweet from Human Rights Watch’s Kenneth Roth condemning Suu Kyi’s “political calculation” regarding the student protest crackdown, one social media user seemed convinced the photo’s message was as clear as day.
An NLD spokesperson did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
