Gates that kept Suu Kyi under house arrest going up for auction
Proceeds of symbol of the crackdown on the pro-democracy leader going to her party
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 03 February, 2015, 1:20am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 03 February, 2015, 1:20am
Associated Press in Yangon
Aung San Suu Kyi greets supporters in 2010.Photo: EPA
For 15 years, the iron gate that stood in front of the home of Myanmar's democracy icon stood as a symbol of repression, separating her from throngs of cheering supporters as she made speeches under house arrest, challenging the country's then-military rulers.
Now the gates are being put on the auction block - and the proceeds, ironically, will be going to help Suu Kyi's political organisation.
Soe Nyunt, the gate's current owner, said yesterday the starting bid would be US$200,000.
He said the proceeds would go toward helping Suu Kyi build a new National League for Democracy party headquarters.
The 69-year old Nobel laureate - and daughter of Myanmar's country's famous independence leader, General Aung San -became an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression during her 15 years of on-again-off-again house arrest.
She moved from London to the lakeside house of her mother almost 27 years ago, where during her incarceration she would stand on a table behind its front gate and hold the iron spikes as she spoke to crowds through a loudspeaker about everything from corruption to the abysmal state of education.
In 1996, the then-military regime had enough, blocking public access to the house. But in 2007, more than 500 chanting Buddhist monks brazenly walked past the barricades, Suu Kyi met them in front of the gate, bowing her head in a show of respect and then waving.
When finally released in 2010, soon after elections that were widely seen as neither free nor fair, thousands of supporters greeted her with garlands and bouquets of flowers.
A bumpy transition from dictatorship to democracy followed. Suu Kyi is now leader of the opposition in the country's young, military-dominated parliament, but she has said many of the reforms implemented since 2011 have either stalled or rolled back.
Soe Nyunt said he saw the gate - and the house number, 54, painted on a separate lacquered plate - while landscaping the garden. He said it was lying under a mango tree waiting to be picked up by a junk collector. Recognising its significance, he asked if he could have it, giving a few hundred dollars in exchange.
"This gate tells the history of the country's democratic struggle," Soe Nyunt said, adding that it should be placed in a museum for future generations.
But he decided on the auction, to be held within the next few weeks, after seeing that the cash-strapped NLD badly needed a new party headquarters.
