, native_name_lang = Burmese , image = File:Press conference with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (6646227147).jpg , image_alt = , caption = Press conference on north lawn of the house in 2012 , address = 54, University Avenue Road,

Bahan Township Bahan Township ( my, ဗဟန်း မြို့နယ်, ) is located in the north central part of Yangon. The township comprises 22 wards, and shares borders with Yankin Township and Mayangon Township in the north, Sanchaung Township and ...

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Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

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Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

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Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...

( State Counsellor of Myanmar) , map_type = , map_alt = , map_caption = , coordinates = , start_date= , completion_date = before 1948 , architectural_style= 54 University Avenue is a house in

. It is the residence of

, a Burmese politician and former State Counsellor of Myanmar. The house is situated on the University Avenue Road, adjacent to Inya Lake.

History

In 1953, following the death of her elder brother, Aung San Suu Kyi, her mother

Khin Kyi Maha Thiri Thudhamma Khin Kyi (16 April 1912 – 27 December 1988) ( my, ခင်ကြည်) was a Burmese politician and diplomat, best known for her marriage to the country's leader, Aung San, with whom she had four children, including Aung ...

and her eldest brother Aung San Oo moved from their house on Tower Lane, near

Kandawgyi Lake Kandawgyi Lake ( my, ကန်တော်ကြီး ; literally "great royal lake", formerly Royal Lake), is one of two major lakes in Yangon, Burma (Myanmar). Located east of the Shwedagon Pagoda, the lake is artificial; water from Inya Lake ...

, to this colonial-era villa facing Inya Lake, on University Avenue Road.

Political significance

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Tin Oo Tin Oo ( my, တင်ဦး, ; born 11 March 1927), often referred to as U Tin Oo, is a Burmese politician, activist and retired general in the Armed Forces who was one of the founders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myanmar, the c ...

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Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

rect 2292 1228 2548 1672 Derek Mitchell rect 2564 1236 2920 1944

rect 3152 1328 3564 1964 Win Tin desc bottom-left Aung San Suu Kyi met people of various backgrounds, political views and religions in the house during 1988 uprisings. She remained under house arrest for almost 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010 in the house. On 22 September 2007, although still under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi made a brief public appearance at the gate of the house to accept the blessings of Buddhist monks during the

Saffron revolution The Saffron Revolution ( my, ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး) was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September, and October 2007 in Myanmar. The pro ...

.Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi greets Myanmar monks
. AFP. 22 September 2007 On 2 May 2008, after the

Cyclone Nargis Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis ( my, နာဂစ်, ur, نرگس ) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone m ...

, the roof of the house was damaged and Aung San Suu Kyi lived in virtual darkness after losing electricity. She used candles at night as she was not provided any generator set. The house was renovated in August 2009. On 4 May 2009, an American citizen John Yettaw trespassed the house two weeks before her scheduled release from house arrest on 27 May. It is illegal in Myanmar to have a guest stay overnight at one's home without notifying the authorities first. This illegal visit prompted Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest on 13 May 2009 and sentenced to eighteen months of house arrest, which effectively meant that she was unable to participate in the 2010 elections. On 13 November 2010, she waved from behind the gate of the house to her supporters who rushed to the house when nearby barricades were removed by the security forces, celebrating the end of her house arrest.

Ownership lawsuit

In 2000, Aung San Oo brought legal action against Aung San Suu Kyi in the Yangon High Court demanding a half-share of the house. There was widespread speculation among observers at the time that Aung San Oo would then sell his half-share to the ruling State Peace and Development Council junta, but the High Court ruled against him, much to the surprise of the same observers, who had assumed that it would bring down whatever verdict was preferred by the junta.''TIME'' magazine, "Burmese Democracy Leader Faces New Threat", November 28, 2000
quote: "Talk about spite. First, Burma's military government told pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that she couldn't leave Rangoon. Then they told her that she couldn't leave her house. Now, they want the house." and: "Late last year, former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visited Burma and met with the generals. Burma's military is anxious for Japan to resume aid to their country, which it cut off when soldiers gunned down thousands of democracy demonstrators in 1988. Hashimoto gave the generals this advice when it came to dealing with Suu Kyi and her followers: Don't back her into a corner. The generals, it appears, aren't listening." ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine reports that, according to Burmese exiles and observers in Yangon, the junta used the alleged surrogacy of Aung San Oo and his lawsuit as an act of spite against her.NCGUB
quote: "If he wins the case, U Aung San Oo is expected to turn his share of the house over to the government, a result which would put Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in an extremely precarious position."

Portrayal in film

The house was featured in

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films ''Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...

's 2011 film '' The Lady''. Under director Luc Besson's helm, his crew also pursued accuracy. Even the

cardinal directions The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...

were respected when the house was rebuilt, so that the audience would see the sunrise in the same way, based on satellite images and about 200 family photographs, they constructed a precise 1:1 scale model of this house.

References

{{reflist, 2 Buildings and structures in Yangon Aung San Suu Kyi