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Aung San Suu Kyi's historic moment: 5 things to know

Once possibly the world's best-known political prisoner, today Aung San Suu Kyi made the historic move to lawmaker, after a swearing-in ceremony at Myanmar's parliament in the capital of Naypyidaw. Here are five things about her.

2. Why has Aung San Suu Kyi never held office before?

  • By Simon Roughneen Correspondent

Known affectionately to Burmese as "The Lady," or "Daw Suu (Auntie Suu)," Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday reversed her initial boycott of Myanmar's parliament after a public outcry from supporters keen for her join parliament, 22 years after she won a general election but was denied office. The legislature requires an oath to the country's constitution, a document Aung San Suu Kyi aims to amend. 

She should have taken office long ago, as her party won a 1990 election in landslide, but the result was ignored by the army. Before that, her rise to prominence as the leader of then-Burma's pro-democracy movement in 1988 was met with stern, often brutal opposition from the country's military rulers.

Her marriage to a British academic, anthropologist Michael Aris, was also used justification to keep her out, ruling that anyone married to a foreigner was barred from office.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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