Burmese
မြန်မာစာ (written Burmese) မြန်မာစကား (spoken Burmese)
Pronunciation	IPA: [mjəmàzà] or IPA: [mjəmà zəɡá]
Spoken in	Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore
Ethnicity	Bamar people
Native speakers	32 million  (2000) Second language: 10 million
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Lolo–Burmese Burmish Southern Burmese
Writing system	Burmese script
Official status
Official language in	Myanmar
Regulated by	Myanmar Language Commission
Language codes
ISO 639-1	my
ISO 639-2	bur (B) mya (T)
ISO 639-3	mya
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This article contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.

The Burmese language (Burmese: မြန်မာဘာသာ; pronounced: [mjəmà bàðà]; MLCTS: myanma bhasa) is the official language of Burma. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as that of some ethnic minorities in Burma like the Mon. Burmese is spoken by 32 million as a first language and as a second language by 10 million, particularly ethnic minorities in Burma and those in neighboring countries. (Although the constitution officially recognizes the English name of the language as the Myanmar language,^[1] most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese.)

Burmese is a tonal, pitch-register, and syllable-timed language,^[2] largely monosyllabic and analytic language, with a subject–object–verb word order. It is a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family, which is a subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The language uses the Burmese script, derived from the Old Mon script and ultimately from the Brāhmī script.

Literary language and spoken language[link]

Burmese language, literary and spoken, is called မြန်မာဘာသာ (mranma bhasa [mjəmà bàðà]), with ဘာသာ (from Pali bhasa, "language"). The language is classified into two categories. One is formal, used in literary works, official publications, radio broadcasts, and formal speeches. The other is colloquial, used in daily conversation and spoken. This is reflected in the Burmese words for "language": စာ (ca [sà]) refers to written, literary language, and စကား (ca.ka: [zəɡá]) refers to spoken language. Burmese therefore can mean either မြန်မာစာ mranma ca (written Burmese), or မြန်မာစကား mranma ca.ka: (spoken Burmese). The မြန်မာ (mranma) portion of these names may be pronounced [mjəmà] or, more colloquially, ဗမာ ([bəmà]).

Diglossia[link]

Diglossia occurs to a large extent in Burmese and is fairly noticeable in writing and speech. The written/literary form of Burmese has undergone only a few changes and tends not to accommodate the spoken/colloquial phonology of standard Burmese today. The Burmese saying "the pronunciation is merely the sound, whilst the orthography is correct" (ရေးတော့အမှန်၊ ဖတ်တော့အသံ [jé dɔ̰ ʔəm̥àɴ pʰaʔ tɔ̰ ʔəθàɴ]) reflects the differences between spoken and written Burmese, as spelling is often not an accurate reflection of pronunciation.

In addition, different particles (to modify nouns and verbs) are used in the literary form from those used in the spoken form. Due to innate pronunciation rules, literate Burmese speakers are able to intuitively interpret ancient Burmese despite the potentially ancient nature of the inscriptions. For example, the postposition after nouns is ၌ (hnai. [n̥aɪʔ] in formal Burmese, and မှာ (hma [m̥à]) in colloquial Burmese.

A newer system of orthography for Burmese (one based on phonology) has been proposed to accommodate such differences, but an obstacle in reforming Burmese orthography lies in the existence of conservative Burmese dialects that retain older pronunciations more similar to formal Burmese, which primarily come from coastal areas like Rakhine State. Moreover, some Burmese linguists such as Minn Latt, a Czech academic, have proposed shifting away from formal Burmese, as seen in television broadcasts, which use the colloquial form.^[3] However, formal Burmese remains well-established in Burmese society.

Since the mid-1960s, there has been a reform movement by some Burmese writers (in particular, leftist writers who believe that laymen's language ought to be used) to abandon the formal style in favour of the vernacular style in writing, but the formal style remains the preferred form of Burmese writing, because "the spoken style lacks gravity, authority, dignity".^[4][5] The formal written style is used in Burmese literature, radio news broadcasts, formal letters, novels, journalism and scholarly works.^[4]

A sample sentence below reveals that much of the differences between formal and colloquial Burmese occurs in grammatical particles and lexical items:

Colloquial Burmese has various politeness levels that take status and age of the speaker in relation to the audience into consideration. For instance, the first and second person pronouns ငါ (nga [ŋà]; "I; me") and နင် (nang [nɪ̀ɴ]; "you") are used with only close people of the same or younger age. The use of these two pronouns with the elders and strangers is considered extremely rude or vulgar. To address elders, teachers and strangers, polite speech employs feudal-era third person pronouns in lieu of first and second person pronouns.

Furthermore, some vocabulary are reserved for Buddhist monks, such as "to sleep", which is ကျိန်း (kyin: [tɕéɪɴ]) for monks and အိပ် (ip' [eɪʔ]) for laypersons and "to die", which is ပျံတော်မူ (pyam tau mu [pjàɴ dɔ̀ mù]) for monks and သေ (se [θè]) for laypersons.

Despite the large differences, Burmese speakers rarely distinguish formal and colloquial Burmese as separate languages, but rather as two registers of the same language.

Dialects[link]

Upper Burmese and Lower Burmese[link]

Despite its Upper Burmese origins, the standard dialect of Burmese today comes from Yangon, because of the largest city's media influence. It used to be that the speech from Mandalay represented standard Burmese. Most differences between Yangon (Lower Burma) and Mandalay (Upper Burma) are in vocabulary usage, not in the accent or pronunciation. The most noticeable feature of the Mandalay dialect is its use of the first person pronoun ကျွန်တော် (kya.nau [tɕənɔ]) for both males and females, whereas in Yangon, ကျွန်မ (kya.ma. [tɕəma̰]) is used by females. Moreover, Upper Burmese speech still differentiates maternal and paternal sides of relatives whereas Lower Burmese speech does not:

In a testament to the power of media, the Yangon-based speech is gaining currency even in Upper Burma. Upper Burmese-specific usage, while historically and technically accurate, is increasingly viewed as countrified speech, or at best regional speech. In fact, some usages are already considered strictly regional Upper Burmese speech, and are likely dying out. For example:

In general, the male-centric names of old Burmese for familial terms have been replaced in standard Burmese with formerly female-centric terms, which are now used by both sexes. One holdover is the use of ညီ (younger brother to a male) and မောင် (younger brother to a female). Terms like နောင် (elder brother to a male) and နှမ (younger sister to a male) now are used in standard Burmese only as part of compound words like ညီနောင် (brothers) or မောင်နှမ (brother and sister).

Outside the Ayeyarwady basin[link]

More distinctive non-standard dialects emerge as one moves farther away from the Ayeyarwady River valley toward peripheral areas of the country. These dialects include Yaw, Palaw, Beik/Myeik (Merguese), Dawei (Tavoyan), Intha, Danu, Rakhine (Arakanese) and Marma. Despite vocabulary and pronunciation differences, there is mutual intelligibility among most Burmese dialects.

The Rakhine dialect (Arakanese) is has retained the [ɹ] sound, which has become a [j] sound in standard Burmese. Also, sound changes from standard Burmese to the Rakhine dialect include the vowel merging of ဧ ([e]) to ဣ ([i]). Hence, a word like "blood" is သွေး ([θwé]) in standard Burmese while it is သွီး ([θwí]) in Rakhine.

Dialects in Tanintharyi Division, like Beik and Dawei dialects, often reduce the intensity of the glottal stop. The Dawei dialect has preserved the [-l-] medial, which is only found in Old Burmese inscriptions.

Vocabulary[link]

The majority of Burmese vocabulary is monosyllabic and is of Tibeto-Burman stock, although many words, especially those loaned from other languages, are polysyllabic. Burmese has been influenced greatly by Pali, English, and Mon, and to a lesser extent, by Chinese, Sanskrit and Hindi.

• Pali loan words are often related to religion, government, arts, and science.
• English loan words are often related to technology, measurements and modern institutions.
• Mon has heavily influenced Burmese. Many Mon loan words have become so well incorporated in the Burmese language that they are not distinguished as loan words. Mon loans are often related to flora, fauna, administration, textiles, foods, boats, crafts, architecture, and music.^[4]
• Sanskrit (religion), Chinese (games and food), and Hindi (food, administration, and shipping) loan words are also found (albeit to a much lesser degree) in Burmese.^[4]
• Various other languages have also contributed vocabulary

Here is a sample of loan words found in Burmese:

• suffering: ဒုက္ခ ([doʊʔkʰa̰]), from Pāli dukkha
• radio: ရေဒီယို ([ɹèdìjò]), from English "radio"
• method: စနစ် ([sənɪʔ]), from Mon
• eggroll: ကော်ပြန့် ([kɔ̀pja̰ɴ]), from Hokkien 潤餅 (jūn-piáⁿ)
• wife: ဇနီး ([zəní]), from Hindi jani
• noodle: ခေါက်ဆွဲ ([kʰaʊʔ sʰwɛ́]), from Shan ၶဝ်ႈသဵၼ်ႈ ([kʰāw sʰēn])
• foot (unit of measurement): ပေ ([pè]), from Portuguese pé
• flag: အလံ ([əlàɴ]), from Arabic علم ʕalam
• storeroom: ([ɡòdàʊɴ]), from Malay gudang

Some words in Burmese may have many synonyms, each having certain usages, such as formal, literary, colloquial, and poetic. One example is the word "moon", which can be လ (la̰; Tibeto-Burman), စန္ဒာ/စန်း ([sàɴdà]/[sáɴ]); Pali derivatives of chanda), or သော်တာ ([θɔ̀ dà] (Sanskrit).^[6]

Burmese also has a tendency to 'double-loan' from Pali, where it adopts two different terms based on the same Pali root.^[7] An example is the Pali word mana, which has two derivatives in Burmese: မာန ([màna̰] "arrogance") and မာန် ([màɴ] "pride").

Furthermore, Burmese loan words, especially from Pali, combine native Burmese words to Pali roots. An example is "airplane" လေယာဉ်ပျံ ([lè jɪ̀ɴ bjàɴ], lit. "air machine fly"), made up of လေ (native Burmese word, "air"), ယာဉ် (Pali loan from yana, "vehicle") and ပျံ (native Burmese word, "fly").^[7] A similar trend is seen in English, where native Burmese words are attached to English loans, such as the verb "to sign" ဆိုင်းထိုး ([sʰáɪɴ tʰó], lit. "sign inscribe"), with ဆိုင်း (English loan "sign") and ထိုး (native Burmese word, "inscribe").^[7] In the case of Mon loans, they are indistinguishable in most cases because they were more often borrowed from speech rather than writing, since Burmese and Mon were used interchangeably for several centuries in modern-day Burma.^[7]

At times, the Burmese government has attempted to limit usage of Western loans, especially from English. For example, in Burma, publications containing the word တယ်လီဗီးရှင် (directly transliterated from English "television") must be replaced with a Burmese substitute ရုပ်မြင်သံကြား, literally "see picture, hear sound." Another example is the Burmese word for vehicle, which is officially ယာဉ် ([jɪ̀ɴ] Pali derivative, "vehicle") but ကား ([ká] English loan, "car") in spoken Burmese. Some common English word loans have fallen out of usage, like ယူနီဗာစတီ ([jùnìbàsətì]), which has been replaced with a recent Pali loan တက္ကသိုလ် ([teʔkəðò]), created by the Burmese government and derived from တက္ကသီလ (takkasila) the Pali spelling of Taxila, an ancient university town in modern-day Pakistan.

Alphabet[link]

Sampling of various Burmese script styles

The Burmese alphabet consists of 33 letters and 12 vowels, and is written from left to right. It requires no spaces between words, although modern writing usually contains spaces after each clause to enhance readability. Characterized by its circular letters and diacritics, the script is an abugida, with all letters having an inherent vowel အ (a. [a̰] or [ə]). The consonants are arranged into six consonant groups (called ဝဂ်) based on articulation, like other Brahmi scripts. Tone markings and vowel modifications are written as diacritics placed to the left, right, top, and bottom of letters.^[4]

The development of the script followed that of the language, which is generally divided into Old Burmese, Middle Burmese and modern Burmese. Old Burmese dates from the 11th to the 16th century (Pagan and Ava dynasties); Middle Burmese from the 16th to the 18th century (Toungoo to early Konbaung dynasties); modern Burmese from the mid-18th century to the present. Orthographic changes followed shifts in phonology (such as the merging of the [-l-] and [-ɹ-] medials) rather than transformations in Burmese grammatical structure and phonology, which has not changed much from Old Burmese to modern Burmese.^[4] For example, during the Pagan era, the medial [-l-] (္လ) was transcribed in writing, which has been replaced by medials [-j-] (ျ) and [-ɹ-] (ြ) in modern Burmese (e.g. "school" in old Burmese က္လောင် ([klɔŋ] → ကျောင်း ([tɕáʊɴ] in modern Burmese).^[8] Likewise written Burmese has preserved all nasalized finals ([-n, -m, -ŋ]), which have merged to [-ɴ] in spoken Burmese. (The exception is [-ɲ], which, in spoken Burmese, can be one of many open vowels ([i, e, ɛ]). Likewise, other consonantal finals ([-s, -p, -t, -k]) have been reduced to [-ʔ]. Similar mergers are seen in other Sino-Tibetan languages like Shanghainese, and to a lesser extent, Cantonese.)

Written Burmese dates to the early Pagan period. The script was developed from either the Mon script in 1058^[9] or the Pyu script in the 10th century.^[10] (Both Mon and Pyu scripts are derivatives of the Brāhmī script.) Burmese orthography originally followed a square format but the cursive format took hold from the 17th century when popular writing led to the wider use of palm leaves and folded paper known as parabaiks (ပုရပိုက်).^[11] Much of the orthography in written Burmese today can be traced back to Middle Burmese. Standardized tone marking was not achieved until the 18th century. From the 19th century onward, orthographers created spellers to reform Burmese spelling, because ambiguities arose over spelling sounds that had been merged.^[4] During colonial rule under the British, Burmese spelling was standardized through dictionaries and spellers. The latest spelling authority, named the Myanma Salonpaung Thatpon Kyan (မြန်မာစာလုံးပေါင်းသတ်ပုံကျမ်း), was compiled in 1978 at the request of the Burmese government.^[4]

Phonology[link]

The transcriptions in this section use the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Consonants[link]

The consonants of Burmese are as follows:

The approximant /ɹ/ is rare, and is only used in place names that have preserved Sanskrit or Pali pronunciations (e.g. Amarapura, which is pronounced [àməɹa̰pùɹa̰]) and in English-derived words. Historically, /ɹ/ became /j/ in Burmese, and is usually replaced by /j/ in Pāli loanwords, e.g. ရဟန္တာ (ra.hanta) /jəhàɴdà/ "monk", ရာဇ (raja.) /jàza̰/ "king". Occasionally it is replaced with /l/, as in the case of the Pali-derived word for "animal" တိရစ္ဆာန် (ti.rac hcan), which can be pronounced [təɹeɪʔ sʰàɴ] or [təleɪʔ sʰàɴ]. Likewise, /w̥/ is rare, having disappeared from modern Burmese, except in transcriptions of foreign names and a handful of native words. [ð] is also uncommon, except as a voiced allophone of /θ/.

Furthermore, there is a voicing rule found in Burmese. When two syllables are joined to form a compound word, the initial consonant of the second syllable becomes voiced. This shift occurs in the following phones:

• /kʰ, k/ → /ɡ/
• /tɕʰ, tɕ/ → /dʑ/
• /sʰ, s/ → /z/
• /tʰ, t/ → /d/
• /pʰ, p/ → /b/

The phoneme /dʑ/, when following the nasalized final /ɴ/, can become a /j/ sound in compound words. For example, "blouse" (အင်္ကျီ angkyi) can be pronounced /èɪɴdʑí/ or /èɪɴjí/.

The phonemes /p, pʰ, b, t, tʰ, d/, when following the nasalized final /ɴ/, can become /m/ in compound words. Examples include တိုင်ပင် ("to consult" [tàɪɴ pɪ̀ɴ], commonly pronounced [tàɪɴ mɪ̀ɴ]), တောင်းပန် ("to apologize" [táʊɴ bàɴ], commonly pronounced [táʊɴ màɴ]), လေယာဉ်ပျံ ("airplane" [lèi jɪ̀ɴ pjàɴ], commonly pronounced [lèɪɴ mjàɴ]).

The placeless nasal /ɴ/ is realized as nasalization of the preceding vowel or as a nasal homorganic to the following consonant; thus /mòʊɴdáɪɴ/ "storm" is pronounced [mõ̀ũndã́ĩ].

In many Burmese words, aspirated consonants indicate active voice or a transitive verb, while unaspirated consonants indicate passive voice or an intransitive verb. Examples include the verb "cook", where the aspirated version ချက် ([tɕʰɛʔ]) means "cook", while the unaspirated ကျက်([tɕɛʔ]) means "to be cooked". Another example is "lessen", where the aspirated version ဖြေ ([pʰjè]) means "lessen" (transitive) while the unaspirated version ပြေ ([pjè]) means "lessen" (intransitive).

Vowels[link]

The vowels of Burmese are:

The monophthongs /e/, /o/, /ɛ/, and /ɔ/ occur only in open syllables (those without a syllable coda); the diphthongs /ei/, /ou/, /ai/, and /au/ occur only in closed syllables (those with a syllable coda)./ə/ only occurs in a minor syllable, and is the only vowel that is permitted in a minor syllable (see below).

The close vowels /i/ and /u/ and the close portions of the diphthongs are slightly centered to [ɪ] and [ʊ] in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/. Thus နှစ် /n̥iʔ/ "two" is phonetically [n̥ɪʔ] and ကြောင် /tɕàuɴ/ "cat" is phonetically [tɕàʊɴ].

Tones[link]

Burmese is a tonal language, which means phonemic contrasts can be made on the basis of the tone of a vowel. In Burmese, these contrasts involve not only pitch, but also phonation, intensity (loudness), duration, and vowel quality. However, some linguists consider Burmese a pitch-register language like Shanghainese.^[12]

There are four contrastive tones in Burmese. In the following table the tones are shown marked on the vowel /a/ as an example; the phonetic descriptions are from Wheatley (1987).

For example, the following words are distinguished from each other only on the basis of tone:

• Low /kʰà/ "shake"
• High /kʰá/ "be bitter"
• Creaky /kʰa̰/ "fee"
• Checked /kʰaʔ/ "draw off"

In syllables ending with /ɴ/, the checked tone is excluded:

• Low /kʰàɴ/ "undergo"
• High /kʰáɴ/ "dry up"
• Creaky /kʰa̰ɴ/ "appoint"

In present-day spoken Burmese, some linguists classify two real tones (there are four nominal tones transcribed in written Burmese), "high" (applied to words that terminate with a stop or check, high-rising pitch) and "ordinary" (unchecked and non-glottal words, with falling or lower pitch), with those tones encompassing a variety of pitches.^[13] The "ordinary" tone consists of a range of pitches. Linguist L. F. Taylor has concluded that "conversational rhythm and euphonic intonation possess importance" not found in related tonal languages and that "its tonal system is now in an advanced state of decay."^[13][14]

Syllable structure[link]

The syllable structure of Burmese is C(G)V((V)C), which is to say the onset consists of a consonant optionally followed by a glide, and the rime consists of a monophthong alone, a monophthong with a consonant, or a diphthong with a consonant. The only consonants that can stand in the coda are /ʔ/ and /ɴ/. Some representative words are:

• CV /mè/ 'girl'
• CVC /mɛʔ/ 'crave'
• CGV /mjè/ 'earth'
• CGVC /mjɛʔ/ 'eye'
• CVVC /màʊɴ/ (term of address for young men)
• CGVVC /mjáʊɴ/ 'ditch'

A minor syllable has some restrictions:

• It contains /ə/ as its only vowel
• It must be an open syllable (no coda consonant)
• It cannot bear tone
• It has only a simple (C) onset (no glide after the consonant)
• It must not be the final syllable of the word

Some examples of words containing minor syllables:

• /kʰə.loʊʔ/ 'knob'
• /pə.lwè/ 'flute'
• /θə.jɔ̀/ 'mock'
• /kə.lɛʔ/ 'be wanton'
• /tʰə.mə.jè/ 'rice-water'

Grammar[link]

The basic word order of the Burmese language is subject-object-verb. Pronouns in Burmese vary according to the gender and status of the audience. Burmese is monosyllabic (i.e., every word is a root to which a particle but not another word may be prefixed).^[15] Sentence structure determines syntactical relations and verbs are not conjugated. Instead they have particles suffixed to them. For example, the verb "to eat," စား (ca: [sà]) is itself unchanged when modified.

Adjectives[link]

Burmese does not have adjectives per se. Rather, it has verbs that carry the meaning "to be X", where X is an English adjective. These verbs can modify a noun by means of the grammatical particle တဲ့ (tai. [dɛ̰]) in colloquial Burmese (literary form: သော sau: [θɔ́]), which is suffixed as follows:

Colloquial: ချောတဲ့လူ hkyau: tai. lu [tɕʰɔ́ dɛ̰ lù]

Formal: ချောသောလူ hkyau: so: lu

Gloss: "beautiful" + adjective particle + "person"

Adjectives may also form a compound with the noun (e.g. လူချော lu hkyau: [lù tɕʰɔ́] "person" + "be beautiful").

Comparatives are usually ordered: X + ထက်ပို (htak pui [tʰeʔ pò]) + adjective, where X is the object being compared to. Superlatives are indicated with the prefix အ (a. [ʔə]) + adjective + ဆုံး (hcum: [zóʊɴ]).

Numerals follow the nouns they modify. Moreover, numerals follow several pronunciation rules that involve tone changes (low tone → creaky tone) and voicing shifts depending on the pronunciation of surrounding words. A more thorough explanation is found on Burmese numerals.

Verbs[link]

The roots of Burmese verbs are almost always suffixed with at least one particle which conveys such information as tense, intention, politeness, mood, etc. Many of these particles also have formal/literary and colloquial equivalents. In fact, the only time in which no particle is attached to a verb is in imperative commands. However, Burmese verbs are not conjugated in the same way as most European languages; the root of the Burmese verb always remains unchanged and does not have to agree with the subject in person, number or gender.

The most commonly used verb particles and their usage are shown below with an example verb root စား (ca: [sá] "to eat"). Alone, the statement စား is imperative.

The suffix တယ် tai [dɛ̀] (literary form: သည် sany [ðì]) can be viewed as a particle marking the present tense and/or a factual statement:

စားတယ် (ca: tai [sá dɛ̀]) - I eat

The suffix ခဲ့ (hkai. [ɡɛ̰]) denotes that the action took place in the past. However, this particle is not always necessary to indicate the past tense such that it can convey the same information without it. But to emphasize that the action happened before another event that is also currently being discussed, the particle becomes imperative. Note that the suffix တယ် (tai [dɛ̀]) in this case denotes a factual statement rather than the present tense:

စားခဲ့တယ် (ca: hkai. tai [sá ɡɛ̰ dɛ̀]) - I ate

The particle နေ (ne [nè]) is used to denote an action in progression. It is equivalent to the English '-ing'"

စားနေတယ် (ca: ne tai [sá nè dɛ̀]) - I am eating

This particle ပြီ (pri [bjì]), which is used when an action that had been expected to be performed by the subject is now finally being performed, has no equivalent in English. So in the above example, if someone had been expecting you to eat and you have finally started eating, the particle ပြီ is used as follows:

(စ)စားပြီ ((ca.) ca: pri [(sə) sá bjì]) - I am (now) eating

The particle မယ် mai [sá mɛ̀] (literary form: မည် many [mjì]) is used to indicate the future tense or an action which is yet to be performed:

စားမယ် (ca: mai [sá mɛ̀]) - I will eat

The particle တော့ (tau. [dɔ̰]) is used when the action is about to be performed immediately when used in conjunction with မယ်. Therefore it could be termed as the "immediate future tense particle".

စားတော့မယ် (ca: tau. mai [sá dɔ̰ mɛ̀]) - I will eat (straight-away)

When တော့ is used alone, however, it is imperative:

• စားတော့ (ca: tau. [sá dɔ̰]) - Eat (now)

Verbs are negated by the particle မ (ma. [mə]), which is prefixed to the verb. Generally speaking, other particles are suffixed to that verb, along with မ.

The verb suffix particle နဲ့ nai. [nɛ̰] (literary form: နှင့် hnang. [n̥ɪ̰ɴ]) indicates a command:

မစားနဲ့ (ma.ca: nai. [məsá nɛ̰] Don't eat

The verb suffix particle ဘူး (bhu: [bú]) indicates a statement:

မစားဘူး (ma.ca: bhu: [məsá bú]) - [I] don't eat

Nouns[link]

Nouns in Burmese are pluralized by suffixing the particle တွေ (twe [dè] or [tè] if the word ends in a glottal stop) in colloquial Burmese or များ (mya: [mjà]) in formal Burmese. The particle တို့ (tou. [to̰]), which indicates a group of persons or things, is also suffixed to the modified noun. An example is below:

• မြစ် (mrac [mjɪʔ]) - river
• မြစ်တွေ (mrac twe [mjɪʔ tè]) - rivers (colloquial)
• မြစ်များ (mrac mya: [mjɪʔ mjá]) - rivers (formal)
• မြစ်တို့ (mrac tou: [mjɪʔ to̰]) - rivers

Plural suffixes are not used when the noun is quantified with a number.

ကလေး ၅ ယောက် (hka.le: nga: yauk [kʰəlé ŋá jaʊʔ])

Gloss: child + five classifier

"Five children"

Although Burmese does not have grammatical gender (e.g. masculine or feminine nouns), a distinction is made between the sexes, especially in animals and plants, by means of suffix particles. Nouns are masculinized with the following particles: ထီး (hti: [tʰí]), ဖ (hpa [pʰa̰]), or ဖို (hpui [pʰò]), depending on the noun, and feminized with the particle မ (ma. [ma̰]). Examples of usage are below:

• ကြောင်ထီး (kraung hti: [tɕàʊɴ tʰí]) - male cat
• ကြောင်မ (kraung ma. [tɕàʊɴ ma̰]) - female cat
• ကြက်ဖ (krak hpa. [tɕɛʔ pʰa̰]) - rooster/cock
• ထန်းဖို (htan: hpui [tʰáɴ pʰò]) - male toddy palm plant

Numerical classifiers[link]

Like its neighboring languages such as Thai, Bengali, and Chinese, Burmese uses numerical classifiers (also called measure words) when nouns are counted or quantified. This approximately equates to English expressions such as "two slices of bread" or "a cup of coffee". Classifiers are required when counting nouns, so ကလေး ၅ (hka.le: nga: [kʰəlé ŋà], lit. "child five") is ungrammatical, because the measure word for people ယောက် (yauk [jaʊʔ]) needs to suffix the numeral.

The standard word order of quantified words is: quantified noun + numeral adjective + classifier, except in round numbers (numbers that end in zero), in which the word order is flipped, where the quantified noun precedes the classifier: quantified noun + classifier + numeral adjective. The only exception to this rule is the number 10, which follows the standard word order.

Measurements of time, such as "hour," (နာရီ) "day," (ရက်) or "month," (လ) do not require classifiers.

Below are some of the most commonly used classifiers in Burmese.

Particles[link]

The Burmese language makes prominent usage of particles (called ပစ္စည်း in Burmese), which are untranslatable words that are suffixed or prefixed to words to indicate level of respect, grammatical tense, or mood. According to the Myanmar–English Dictionary (1993), there are 449 particles in the Burmese language. For example, စမ်း ([sáɴ]) is a grammatical particle used to indicate the imperative mood. While လုပ်ပါ ("work" + particle indicating politeness) does not indicate the imperative, လုပ်စမ်းပါ ("work" + particle indicating imperative mood + particle indicating politeness) does. Particles may be combined in some cases, especially those modifying verbs.

Some particles modify the word's part of speech. Among the most prominent of these is the particle အ ([ə]), which is prefixed to verbs and adjectives to form nouns or adverbs. For instance, the word ဝင် means "to enter," but combined with အ, it means "entrance" (အဝင်). Also, in colloquial Burmese, there is a tendency to omit the second အ in words that follow the pattern အ + noun/adverb + အ + noun/adverb, like အဆောက်အအုံ, which is pronounced [əsʰaʊʔ ú] and formally pronounced [əsʰaʊʔ əòʊɴ].

Pronouns[link]

Subject pronouns begin sentences, though the subject is generally omitted in the imperative forms and in conversation. Grammatically speaking, subject marker particles (က ([ɡa̰] in colloquial, သည် [θì] in formal) must be attached to the subject pronoun, although they are also generally omitted in conversation. Object pronouns must have an object marker particle (ကို [ɡò] in colloquial, အား [á] in formal) attached immediately after the pronoun. Proper nouns are often substituted for pronouns. One's status in relation to the audience determines the pronouns used, with certain pronouns used for different audiences.

Polite pronouns are used to address elders, teachers and strangers, through the use of feudal-era third person pronouns in lieu of first and second person pronouns. In such situations, one refers to oneself in third person: ကျွန်တော် (kya. nau [tɕənɔ̀]) for males, and ကျွန်မ (kya. ma. [tɕəma̰]) for females, both meaning "your servant") and refer to the addressee as မင်း (min [mɪ́ɴ]; "your highness"), ခင်ဗျား (khang bya: [kʰəmjá]; "master lord")^[16] or ရှင် (hrang [ʃɪ̀ɴ]; "ruler/master").^[17] So ingrained are these terms in the daily polite speech that people use them as the first and second person pronouns without giving a second thought to the root meaning of these pronouns.

When speaking to a person of the same status or of younger age, ငါ (nga [ŋà]; "I/me") and နင် (nang [nɪ̀ɴ]; "you") may be used, although most speakers choose to use third person pronouns.^[17] For example, an older person may use ​ဒေါ်လေး (dau le: [dɔ̀ lé]; "aunt") or ဦးလေး (u: lei: [ʔú lé]; "uncle") to refer to himself, while a younger person may use either သား (sa: [θá]; son) or သမီး (sa.mi: [θəmí]; daughter).

The basic pronouns are:

* The basic particle to indicate plurality is တို့ (tui.), colloquial ဒို့ (dui.).

^‡ Used by males.

^† Used by females.

Other pronouns are reserved for speaking with Buddhist monks. When speaking to a monk, pronouns like ဘုန်းဘုန်း bhun: bhun: (from ဘုန်းကြီး phun: kri:, "monk"), ဆရာတော် (chara dau [sʰəjàdɔ̀]; "royal teacher"), and အရှင်ဘုရား (a.hrang bhu.ra:; [ʔəʃɪ̀ɴ pʰəjá]; "your lordship") are used depending on their status (ဝါ); when referring to oneself, terms like တပည့်တော် (ta. pany. tau ; "royal disciple") or ဒကာ (da. ka [dəɡà], "donor") are used. When speaking to a monk, the following pronouns are used:

^† The particle ma. (မ) is suffixed for females.

^‡ Typically reserved for the chief monk of a monastery.

In colloquial Burmese, possessive pronouns are contracted when the root pronoun itself is low toned. This does not occur in literary Burmese, which uses ၏ ([ḭ]) as postpositional marker for possessive case instead of ရဲ့ ([jɛ̰]). Examples include the following:

• ငါ ([ŋà] "I") + ရဲ့ (postpositional marker for possessive case) = ငါ့ ([ŋa̰] "my")
• နင် ([nɪ̀ɴ] "you") + ရဲ့ (postpositional marker for possessive case) = နင့် ([nɪ̰ɴ] "your")
• သူ ([θù] "he, she") + ရဲ့ (postpositional marker for possessive case) = သူ့ ([θṵ] "his, her")

The contraction also occurs in some low toned nouns, making them possessive nouns (e.g. အမေ့ or မြန်မာ့, "mother's" and "Burma's" respectively).

Reduplication[link]

Reduplication is prevalent in Burmese and is used to intensify or weaken adjectives' meanings. For example, ချော ([tɕʰɔ́] "beautiful") is reduplicated, the intensity of the adjective's meaning increases. Many Burmese words, especially adjectives with two syllables, such as လှပ ([l̥a̰pa̰] "beautiful"), when reduplicated (လှပ → လှလှပပ [l̥a̰l̥a̰ pa̰pa̰]) become adverbs. This is also true of some Burmese verbs and nouns (e.g. ခဏ "a moment" → ခဏခဏ "frequently"), which become adverbs when reduplicated.

Some nouns are also reduplicated to indicate plurality. For instance, ပြည် ([pjì] "country"), but when reduplicated to အပြည်ပြည် ([əpjì pjì] "country"), means "many countries," as in အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ([əpjì pjì sʰàɪɴ jà] "international"). Another example is အမျိုး, which means "a kind," but the reduplicated form အမျိုးမျိုး means "multiple kinds."

A few measure words can also be reduplicated to indicate "one or the other":

• ယောက် (measure word for people) → တစ်ယောက်ယောက် (someone)
• ခု (measure word for things) → တစ်ခုခု (something)

Romanization and transcription[link]

There is no official romanization system for Burmese. There have been attempts to make one, but none have been successful. Replicating Burmese sounds in the Latin script is complicated. There is a Pāli-based transcription system in existence, which was devised by the Myanmar Language Commission (MLC). However, it only transcribes sounds in formal Burmese and is based on the orthography rather than the phonology.

Several colloquial transcription systems have been proposed, but none is overwhelmingly preferred over others.

Transcription of Burmese is not standardized, as seen in the varying English transcriptions of Burmese names. For instance, a Burmese personal name like ဝင်း ([wɪ́ɴ]) may be variously romanized as Win, Winn, Wyn, or Wynn, while ခိုင် ([kʰàɪɴ]) may be romanized as Khaing, Khine, or Khain.

Computer fonts and standard keyboard layout[link]

The Burmese script can be entered from the standard QWERTY keyboard. The most popular Burmese font, Zawgyi, is not Unicode-compliant though a number of Unicode-compliant fonts are available. The national standard keyboard layout for Unicode-compliant font shown here. It is known as the Myanmar3 layout as it was published along with the Myanmar3 Unicode font. The layout, developed by the Myanmar NLP Research Center, has a smart input system to cover the complex structures of Burmese and related scripts.

Notes[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

References[link]

• Aung Bala (1981). "Contemporary Burmese Literature". Contributions to Asian Studies 16. 
• Aung-Thwin, Michael (2005). The mists of Rāmañña: The Legend that was Lower Burma (illustrated ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0-8248-2886-0, 9780824828868. 
• Aung Zaw (September 2010). "Tell the World the Truth". The Irrawaddy (Chiang Mai) 18 (9). http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19413. 
• Benedict, Paul K. (Oct-Dec 1948). "Tonal Systems in Southeast Asia". Journal of the American Oriental Society (American Oriental Society) 68 (4). DOI:10.2307/595942. JSTOR 595942. 
• Bradley, David (Spring 1993). "Pronouns in Burmese–Lolo". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman area (Melbourne: La Trobe University) 16 (1). http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf4/bradley1993pronouns.pdf. 
• Chang, Charles Bond (2003). “High-Interest Loans”: The Phonology of English Loanword Adaptation in Burmese (B.A. thesis). Harvard University. http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~cbchang/papers/Chang_MAthesis03.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-24. 
• Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. 
• Herbert, Patricia M.; Anthony Milner and Southeast Asia Library Group (1989). South-East Asia. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1267-6. 
• Jones, Robert (1986). John McCoy and Timothy Light. ed. "Pitch register languages". Contributions to Sino-Tibetan Studies. 
• Khin Min, Maung (1987). "Old Usage Styles of Myanmar Script". Myanmar Unicode & NLP Research Center. http://www.myanmars.net/unicode/doc/20040408_olduse.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
• Lieberman, Victor B. (2003). Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800–1830, volume 1, Integration on the Mainland. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80496-7. 
• Taw, Sein Ko (1924). Elementary handbook of the Burmese language. Rangoon: American Baptist Mission Press. 
• Taylor, L.F. (1920). "On the Tones of Certain Languages of Burma". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies (Cambridge University Press) 1 (4). DOI:10.1017/S0041977X00101685. JSTOR 607065. 
• Wheatley, Julian; San San Hnin Tun (1999). "Languages in contact: The Case of English and Burmese". The Journal of Burma Studies 4. 
• Myanmar–English Dictionary. Myanmar Language Commission. 1993. ISBN 1-881265-47-1. 

Further reading[link]

• Becker, Alton L. (1984). "Biography of a sentence: A Burmese proverb". In In E. M. Bruner (ed.). Text, play, and story: The construction and reconstruction of self and society. Washington, D.C.: American Ethnological Society. pp. 135–55. 
• Bernot, Denise (1980) (in French). Le prédicat en birman parlé. Paris: SELAF. ISBN 2-85297-072-4. 
• Cornyn, William Stewart; D. Haigh Roop (1944). Outline of Burmese grammar. Baltimore: Linguistic Society of America. 
• Cornyn, William Stewart; D. Haigh Roop (1968). Beginning Burmese. New Haven: Yale University Press. 
• Green, Antony D. (2005). "Word, foot, and syllable structure in Burmese". In In J. Watkins (ed.). Studies in Burmese linguistics. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 1–25. ISBN 0-85883-559-2. 
• Okell, John (1969). A reference grammar of colloquial Burmese. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-7007-1136-8. 
• Roop, D. Haigh (1972). An introduction to the Burmese writing system. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-01528-3. 
• Taw Sein Ko (1924). Elementary handbook of the Burmese language. Rangoon: American Baptist Mission Press. 
• Watkins, Justin W. (2001). "Illustrations of the IPA: Burmese". Journal of the International Phonetic Association 31 (2): 291–95. DOI:10.1017/S0025100301002122. 
• Wheatley, Julian K. (1987). "Burmese". In In B. Comrie (ed.). Handbook of the world's major languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 834–54. ISBN 0-19-520521-9. 
• Patricia M Herbert, Anthony Milner, ed. (1989). South East Asia Languages and Literatures: Languages and Literatures: A Select Guide. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1267-0. 

External links[link]

Burmese language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Burmese language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Burmese phrasebook at Wikitravel
• Burmese Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
• Omniglot: Burmese Language
• Online Burmese lessons
• Burmese language resources from SOAS
• Myanmar Unicode and NLP Research Center
• Myanmar 3 font and keyboard

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi MP AC
Chairman of the National League for Democracy
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 September 1988
Preceded by	Position established
Member of the Pyithu Hluttaw for Kawhmu
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 May 2012
Preceded by	Soe Tint
Majority	46,730 (71.38%)[1]
Personal details
Born	(1945-06-19) 19 June 1945 (age 67) Rangoon, British Burma (now Yangon)
Political party	National League for Democracy
Spouse(s)	Michael Aris (1972–1999)
Relations	Aung San (father) Khin Kyi (mother)
Children	Alexander Kim
Alma mater	University of Delhi St Hugh's College, Oxford University of London
Religion	Theravada Buddhism
Awards	Rafto Prize Nobel Peace Prize Jawaharlal Nehru Award International Simón Bolívar Prize Olof Palme Prize Bhagwan Mahavir World Peace

This article contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.

Aung San Suu Kyi MP AC (Burmese: ; MLCTS: aung hcan: cu. krany, IPA: [ʔàʊɴ sʰáɴ sṵ tɕì]; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese opposition politician and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burma. In the 1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} She had, however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13 November 2010,^[9] becoming one of the world's most prominent (now former) political prisoners.^[10]

Suu Kyi received the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the government of India and the International Simón Bolívar Prize from the government of Venezuela. In 2007, the Government of Canada made her an honorary citizen of that country;^[11] at the time, she was one of only four people ever to receive the honor.^[12] In 2011, she was awarded the Wallenberg Medal.^[13]

On 1 April 2012, her opposition party, the National League for Democracy, announced that she was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw, the lower house of the Burmese parliament, representing the constituency of Kawhmu;^[14] her party also won 43 of the 45 vacant seats in the lower house.^[15] The election results were confirmed by the official electoral commission the following day.^[16]

Suu Kyi is the third child and only daughter of Aung San, considered to be the father of modern-day Burma.

Name[link]

A family portrait, with Aung San Suu Kyi (in white) as a toddler, taken in 1947, shortly before her father's assassination.

Aung San Suu Kyi derives her name from three relatives: "Aung San" from her father, "Suu" from her paternal grandmother and "Kyi" from her mother Khin Kyi.^[17] She is frequently called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Daw is not part of her name, but is an honorific, similar to madame, for older, revered women, literally meaning "aunt."^[18] She is also often referred to as Daw Suu by the Burmese (or Amay Suu, lit. "Mother Suu," by some followers),^[19][20] or "Aunty Suu", and as Dr. Suu Kyi,^[21] Ms. Suu Kyi, or Mrs. Suu Kyi by the foreign media. However, like other Burmese, she has no surname (see Burmese names). The pronunciation of her name is approximated as "Awn Sahn Sue Chee," although the "ch" in "Chee" is unaspirated.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Part of a series on the
Democracy movements in Burma
The fighting peacock flag
Background
Post-independence Burma
Internal conflict in Burma
Burmese Way to Socialism
State Peace and Development Council
Mass protests
8888 Uprising · Protests of 2007
Concessions and reforms
Roadmap to democracy New constitution Reforms of 2011
Elections
1990 · 2010 · 2012
Organizations
National League for Democracy · 88 Generation Students Group · Burma Campaign UK · Free Burma Coalition · U.S. Campaign for Burma · Generation Wave · All Burma Students' Democratic Front · The Irrawaddy · Democratic Voice of Burma · Mizzima News
Figures
U Nu · Aung Gyi · Tin Oo · Aung San Suu Kyi · Min Ko Naing · Thein Sein
Related topics
Human rights in Burma · Politics of Burma · Foreign relations of Burma
v t e

A portrait of Khin Kyi and her family in 1948. Aung San Suu Kyi is seated on the floor.

Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon (now named Yangon).^[23] Her father, Aung San, founded the modern Burmese army and negotiated Burma's independence from the British Empire in 1947; he was assassinated by his rivals in the same year. She grew up with her mother, Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and Aung San Oo, in Rangoon. Aung San Lin died at age eight, when he drowned in an ornamental lake on the grounds of the house.^[17] Her elder brother emigrated to San Diego, California, becoming a United States citizen.^[17] After Aung San Lin's death, the family moved to a house by Inya Lake where Suu Kyi met people of very different backgrounds, political views and religions.^[24] She was educated in Methodist English High School (now Basic Education High School No. 1 Dagon) for much of her childhood in Burma, where she was noted as having a talent for learning languages.^[25] She is a Theravada Buddhist.

Aung San Suu Kyi at the age of six.

Suu Kyi's mother, Khin Kyi, gained prominence as a political figure in the newly formed Burmese government. She was appointed Burmese ambassador to India and Nepal in 1960, and Aung San Suu Kyi followed her there, she studied in the Convent of Jesus and Mary School, New Delhi and graduated from Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi with a degree in politics in 1964.^[26][27] Suu Kyi continued her education at St Hugh's College, Oxford, obtaining a B.A. degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1969. During her time in Oxford, she fell in love with a Pakistani man but the relationship ended in tears.^[28] After graduating, she lived in New York City with a family friend who was once a popular Burmese pop singer.^[28] She worked at the UN for three years, primarily on budget matters, writing daily to her future husband, Dr. Michael Aris.^[29] In 1972, Aung San Suu Kyi married Aris, a scholar of Tibetan culture, living abroad in Bhutan.^[26] The following year she gave birth to their first son, Alexander Aris, in London; their second son, Kim, was born in 1977. Subsequently, she earned a PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 1985. She was elected as an Honorary Fellow in 1990.^[26] For two years she was a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) in Shimla, India. She also worked for the government of the Union of Burma.

In 1988 Suu Kyi returned to Burma, at first to tend for her ailing mother but later to lead the pro-democracy movement. Aris' visit in Christmas 1995 turned out to be the last time that he and Suu Kyi met, as Suu Kyi remained in Burma and the Burmese dictatorship denied him any further entry visas.^[26] Aris was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 which was later found to be terminal. Despite appeals from prominent figures and organizations, including the United States, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Pope John Paul II, the Burmese government would not grant Aris a visa, saying that they did not have the facilities to care for him, and instead urged Aung San Suu Kyi to leave the country to visit him. She was at that time temporarily free from house arrest but was unwilling to depart, fearing that she would be refused re-entry if she left, as she did not trust the military junta's assurance that she could return.^[30]

Aris died on his 53rd birthday on 27 March 1999. Since 1989, when his wife was first placed under house arrest, he had seen her only five times, the last of which was for Christmas in 1995. She was also separated from her children, who live in the United Kingdom, but starting in 2011, they have visited her in Burma.^[31]

On 2 May 2008, after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, Suu Kyi lost the roof of her house and lived in virtual darkness after losing electricity in her dilapidated lakeside residence. She used candles at night as she was not provided any generator set.^[32] Plans to renovate and repair the house were announced in August 2009.^[33] Suu Kyi was released from house arrest on 13 November 2010.^[34]

Aung San Suu Kyi arrvies to give speech to the supporters during 2012 by-election campaign at her constituency Kawhmu township, Myanmar on 22 March 2012.

Political beginnings[link]

Coincident with Aung San Suu Kyi's return to Burma in 1988, the long-time military leader of Burma and head of the ruling party, General Ne Win, stepped down. Mass demonstrations for democracy followed that event on 8 August 1988 (8–8–88, a day seen as auspicious), which were violently suppressed in what came to be known as the 8888 Uprising. On 26 August 1988, she addressed half a million people at a mass rally in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda in the capital, calling for a democratic government.^[26] However in September, a new military junta took power.

Influenced^[35] by both Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence^[36][37] and more specifically by Buddhist concepts,^[38] Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics to work for democratization, helped found the National League for Democracy on 27 September 1988,^[39] but was put under house arrest on 20 July 1989. Offered freedom if she left the country, she refused.

One of her most famous speeches was "Freedom From Fear", which began: "It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."

She also believes fear spurs many world leaders to lose sight of their purpose. "Government leaders are amazing", she once said. "So often it seems they are the last to know what the people want."^[40]

Political career[link]

Suu Kyi meets with Edgardo Boeninger of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in 1995.

1990 general election[link]

In 1990, the military junta called a general election, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) received 59% of the votes, guaranteeing NLD 80% of the parliament seats. Some claim that Aung San Suu Kyi would have assumed the office of Prime Minister;^[41] in fact, however, as she wasn't permitted, she did not stand as a candidate in the elections (although being a MP isn't a strict prerequisite for becoming PM in most parliamentary systems). Instead, the results were nullified and the military refused to hand over power, resulting in an international outcry. Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest at her home on University Avenue (16°49′32″N 96°9′1″E / 16.82556°N 96.15028°E / 16.82556; 96.15028) in Rangoon, during which time she was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990, and the Nobel Peace Prize the year after. Her sons Alexander and Kim accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. Aung San Suu Kyi used the Nobel Peace Prize's 1.3 million USD prize money to establish a health and education trust for the Burmese people.^[42] Around this time, Suu Kyi chose non-violence as an expedient political tactic, stating in 2007, "I do not hold to non-violence for moral reasons, but for political and practical reasons,"^[43] however, nonviolent action as well as civil resistance in lieu of armed conflict are also political tactics in keeping with the overall philosophy of her Theravada Buddhist religion.

1996 attack[link]

On 9 November 1996, the motorcade that she was traveling in with other National League for Democracy leaders Tin Oo and U Kyi Maung, was attacked in Yangon. About 200 men swooped down on the motorcade, wielding metal chains, metal batons, stones and other weapons. The car that Aung San Suu Kyi was in had its rear window smashed, and the car with Tin Oo and U Kyi Maung had its rear window and two backdoor windows shattered. It is believed the offenders were members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) who were allegedly paid 500 kyats (@ USD $0.5) each to participate. The NLD lodged an official complaint with the police, and according to reports the government launched an investigation, but no action was taken. (Amnesty International 120297)^[44]

House arrest[link]

Aung San Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years, on different occasions, since she began her political career,^[45] during which time she was prevented from meeting her party supporters and international visitors. In an interview, Suu Kyi said that while under house arrest she spent her time reading philosophy, politics and biographies that her husband had sent her.^[46] She also passed the time playing the piano, and was occasionally allowed visits from foreign diplomats as well as from her personal physician.^[47]

The media were also prevented from visiting Suu Kyi, as occurred in 1998 when journalist Maurizio Giuliano, after photographing her, was stopped by customs officials who then confiscated all his films, tapes and some notes.^[48] In contrast, Suu Kyi did have visits from government representatives, such as during her autumn 1994 house arrest when she met the leader of Burma, General Than Shwe and General Khin Nyunt on 20 September in the first meeting since she had been placed in detention.^[26] On several occasions during Suu Kyi's house arrest, she had periods of poor health and as a result was hospitalized.^[49]

The Burmese government detained and kept Suu Kyi imprisoned because it viewed her as someone "likely to undermine the community peace and stability" of the country, and used both Article 10(a) and 10(b) of the 1975 State Protection Act (granting the government the power to imprison people for up to five years without a trial),^[50] and Section 22 of the "Law to Safeguard the State Against the Dangers of Those Desiring to Cause Subversive Acts" as legal tools against her.^[51] She continuously appealed her detention,^[52] and many nations and figures continued to call for her release and that of 2,100 other political prisoners in the country.^[53][54] On 12 November 2010, days after the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won elections conducted after a gap of almost 20 years, the junta finally agreed to sign orders allowing Suu Kyi's release,^[55] and Suu Kyi's house arrest term came to an end on 13 November 2010.

UN involvement[link]

The UN has attempted to facilitate dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi.^[56] On 6 May 2002, following secret confidence-building negotiations led by the UN, the government released her; a government spokesman said that she was free to move "because we are confident that we can trust each other". Aung San Suu Kyi proclaimed "a new dawn for the country". However on 30 May 2003 in an incident similar to the 1996 attack on her, a government-sponsored mob attacked her caravan in the northern village of Depayin, murdering and wounding many of her supporters.^[57] Aung San Suu Kyi fled the scene with the help of her driver, Ko Kyaw Soe Lin, but was arrested upon reaching Ye-U. The government imprisoned her at Insein Prison in Rangoon. After she underwent a hysterectomy in September 2003,^[58] the government again placed her under house arrest in Rangoon.

The results from the UN facilitation have been mixed; Razali Ismail, UN special envoy to Burma, met with Aung San Suu Kyi. Ismail resigned from his post the following year, partly because he was denied re-entry to Burma on several occasions.^[59] Several years later in 2006, Ibrahim Gambari, UN Undersecretary-General (USG) of Department of Political Affairs, met with Aung San Suu Kyi, the first visit by a foreign official since 2004.^[60] He also met with Suu Kyi later the same year.^[61] On 2 October 2007 Gambari returned to talk to her again after seeing Than Shwe and other members of the senior leadership in Naypyidaw.^[62] State television broadcast Suu Kyi with Gambari, stating that they had met twice. This was Suu Kyi's first appearance in state media in the four years since her current detention began.^[63]

The United Nations Working Group for Arbitrary Detention published an Opinion that Aung San Suu Kyi's deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and in contravention of Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, and requested that the authorities in Burma set her free, but the authorities ignored the request at that time.^[64] The U.N. report said that according to the Burmese Government’s reply, "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has not been arrested, but has only been taken into protective custody, for her own safety", and while "it could have instituted legal action against her under the country’s domestic legislation ... it has preferred to adopt a magnanimous attitude, and is providing her with protection in her own interests."^[64]

Such claims were rejected by Brig-General Khin Yi, Chief of Myanmar Police Force (MPF). On 18 January 2007, the state-run paper New Light of Myanmar accused Suu Kyi of tax evasion for spending her Nobel Prize money outside of the country. The accusation followed the defeat of a US-sponsored United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Burma as a threat to international security; the resolution was defeated because of strong opposition from China, which has strong ties with the military junta (China later voted against the resolution, along with Russia and South Africa).^[65]

In November 2007, it was reported that Suu Kyi would meet her political allies National League for Democracy along with a government minister. The ruling junta made the official announcement on state TV and radio just hours after UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari ended his second visit to Burma. The NLD confirmed that it had received the invitation to hold talks with Suu Kyi.^[66] However, the process delivered few concrete results.

On 3 July 2009, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon went to Burma to pressure the junta into releasing Suu Kyi and to institute democratic reform. However, on departing from Burma, Ban Ki-moon said he was "disappointed" with the visit after junta leader Than Shwe refused permission for him to visit Suu Kyi, citing her ongoing trial. Ban said he was "deeply disappointed that they have missed a very important opportunity."^[67]

Periods under detention[link]

• 20 July 1989: Placed under house arrest in Rangoon under martial law that allows for detention without charge or trial for three years.^[56]
• 10 July 1995: Released from house arrest.^[17]
• 23 September 2000: Placed under house arrest.^[45]
• 6 May 2002: Released after 19 months.^[45]
• 30 May 2003: Arrested following the Depayin massacre, she was held in secret detention for more than three months before being returned to house arrest.^[68]
• 25 May 2007: House arrest extended by one year despite a direct appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to General Than Shwe.^[69]
• 24 October 2007: Reached 12 years under house arrest, solidarity protests held at 12 cities around the world.^[70]
• 27 May 2008: House arrest extended for another year, which is illegal under both international law and Burma's own law.^[71]
• 11 August 2009: House arrest extended for 18 more months because of "violation" arising from the May 2009 trespass incident.
• 13 November 2010: Released from house arrest.^[72]

2007 anti-government protests[link]

Protests led by Buddhist monks began on 19 August 2007 following steep fuel price increases, and continued each day, despite the threat of a crackdown by the military.^[73]

On 22 September 2007, although still under house arrest, Suu Kyi made a brief public appearance at the gate of her residence in Yangon to accept the blessings of Buddhist monks who were marching in support of human rights.^[74] It was reported that she had been moved the following day to Insein Prison (where she had been detained in 2003),^{[75][76][77][78]} but meetings with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari near her Rangoon home on 30 September and 2 October established that she remained under house arrest.^[79][80]

2009 trespass incident[link]

U.S. Senator Jim Webb visiting Suu Kyi in 2009. Webb negotiated the release of John Yettaw, the man who trespassed in Suu Kyi's home, resulting in her arrest and conviction with three years' hard labour.

On 3 May 2009, an American man, identified as John Yettaw, swam across Inya Lake to her house uninvited and was arrested when he made his return trip three days later.^[81] He had attempted to make a similar trip two years earlier, but for unknown reasons was turned away.^[82] He later claimed at trial that he was motivated by a divine vision requiring him to notify her of an impending terrorist assassination attempt.^[83] On 13 May, Suu Kyi was arrested for violating the terms of her house arrest because the swimmer, who pleaded exhaustion, was allowed to stay in her house for two days before he attempted the swim back. Suu Kyi was later taken to Insein Prison, where she could have faced up to five years confinement for the intrusion.^[84] The trial of Suu Kyi and her two maids began on 18 May and a small number of protesters gathered outside.^[85][86] Diplomats and journalists were barred from attending the trial; however, on one occasion, several diplomats from Russia, Thailand and Singapore and journalists were allowed to meet Suu Kyi.^[87] The prosecution had originally planned to call 22 witnesses.^[88] It also accused John Yettaw of embarrassing the country.^[89] During the ongoing defence case, Suu Kyi said she was innocent. The defence was allowed to call only one witness (out of four), while the prosecution was permitted to call 14 witnesses. The court rejected two character witnesses, NLD members Tin Oo and Win Tin, and permitted the defense to call only a legal expert.^[90] According to one unconfirmed report, the junta was planning to, once again, place her in detention, this time in a military base outside the city.^[91] In a separate trial, Yettaw said he swam to Suu Kyi's house to warn her that her life was "in danger".^[92] The national police chief later confirmed that Yettaw was the "main culprit" in the case filed against Suu Kyi.^[93] According to aides, Suu Kyi spent her 64th birthday in jail sharing biryani rice and chocolate cake with her guards.^[94]

Her arrest and subsequent trial received worldwide condemnation by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Security Council,^[95] Western governments,^[96] South Africa,^[97] Japan^[98] and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Burma is a member.^[99] The Burmese government strongly condemned the statement, as it created an "unsound tradition"^[100] and criticised Thailand for meddling in its internal affairs.^[101] The Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win was quoted in the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar as saying that the incident "was trumped up to intensify international pressure on Burma by internal and external anti-government elements who do not wish to see the positive changes in those countries' policies toward Burma".^[89] Ban responded to an international campaign^[102] by flying to Burma to negotiate, but Than Shwe rejected all of his requests.^[103]

On 11 August 2009 the trial concluded with Suu Kyi being sentenced to imprisonment for three years with hard labour. This sentence was commuted by the military rulers to further house arrest of 18 months.^[104] On 14 August, U.S. Senator Jim Webb visited Burma, visiting with junta leader Gen. Than Shwe and later with Suu Kyi. During the visit, Webb negotiated Yettaw's release and deportation from Burma.^[105] Following the verdict of the trial, lawyers of Suu Kyi said they would appeal against the 18-month sentence.^[106] On 18 August, United States President Barack Obama asked the country's military leadership to set free all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.^[107] In her appeal, Aung San Suu Kyi had argued that the conviction was unwarranted. However, her appeal against the August sentence was rejected by a Burmese court on 2 October 2009. Although the court accepted the argument that the 1974 constitution, under which she had been charged, was null and void, it also said the provisions of the 1975 security law, under which she has been kept under house arrest, remained in force. The verdict effectively meant that she would be unable to participate in the elections scheduled to take place in 2010 – the first in Burma in two decades. Her lawyer stated that her legal team would pursue a new appeal within 60 days.^[108]

2009: International pressure for release, and Burmese general election 2010[link]

It was announced prior to the Burmese general election that Aung San Suu Kyi may be released "so she can organize her party,"^[109] However, Suu Kyi was not allowed to run.^[110] On 1 October 2010 the government announced that she would be released on 13 November 2010.^[111]

Burma's relaxing stance, such as releasing political prisoners, was influenced in the wake of successful recent diplomatic visits by the US and other democratic governments, urging or encouraging the Burmese towards democratic reform. U.S. President Barack Obama personally advocated for the release of all political prisoners, especially Aung San Suu Kyi, during the US-ASEAN Summit of 2009.^[112]

Democratic governments^[which?] hoped that successful general elections would be an optimistic indicator of the Burmese government's sincerity towards eventual democracy.^[113] The Hatoyama government which spent 2.82 billion yen in 2008, has promised more Japanese foreign aid to encourage Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi in time for the elections; and to continue moving towards democracy and the rule of law.^[113][114]

In a personal letter to Suu Kyi, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown cautioned the Burmese government of the potential consequences of rigging elections as "condemning Burma to more years of diplomatic isolation and economic stagnation".^[115]

The Burmese government has been granting Suu Kyi varying degrees of freedom throughout late 2009, in response to international pressure. She has met with many heads of state, and opened a dialog with the Minister of Labor Aung Kyi (not to be confused with Aung San Suu Kyi).^[116]

Suu Kyi was allowed to meet with senior members of her NLD party at the State House,^[117] however these meeting took place under close supervision.

2010 release[link]

Aung San Suu Kyi addresses crowds at the NLD headquarters shortly after her release.

Aung San Suu Kyi meets with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Yangon (1 December 2011)

On the evening of 13 November 2010, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest.^[118] This was the date her detention had been set to expire according to a court ruling in August 2009^[119] and came six days after a widely criticized general election. She appeared in front of a crowd of her supporters, who rushed to her house in Rangoon when nearby barricades were removed by the security forces. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate had been detained for 15 of the past 21 years.^[120] The government newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported the release positively,^[121] saying she had been granted a pardon after serving her sentence "in good conduct".^[122] The New York Times suggested that the military government may have released Suu Kyi because it felt it was in a confident position to control her supporters after the election.^[121] The role that Suu Kyi will play in the future of democracy in Burma remains a subject of much debate.

Her son Kim Aris was granted a visa in November 2010 to see his mother shortly after her release, for the first time in 10 years.^[123] He visited again in 5 July 2011, to accompany her on a trip to Bagan, her first trip outside Yangon since 2003.^[124] Her son visited again in 8 August 2011, to accompany her on a trip to Pegu, her second trip.^[125]

Discussions were held between Suu Kyi and the Burmese government during 2011, which led to a number of official gestures to meet her demands. In October, around a tenth of Burma's political prisoners were freed in an amnesty and trade unions were legalised.^[126][127]

In November 2011, following a meeting of its leaders, the NLD announced its intention to re-register as a political party in order contend 48 by-elections necessitated by the promotion of parliamentarians to ministerial rank.^[128] Following the decision, Suu Kyi held a telephone conference with U.S. President Barack Obama, in which it was agreed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would make a visit to Burma, a move received with caution by Burma's ally China.^[129] On 1 December 2011, Suu Kyi met with Hillary Clinton at the residence of the top-ranking US diplomat in Yangon.^[130]

On 21 December 2011, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met Suu Kyi in Yangoon, becoming Suu Kyi's "first-ever meeting with the leader of a foreign country".^[131]

On 5 January 2012, British Foreign Minister William Hague met Aung San Suu Kyi and his Burmese counterpart. This represented a significant visit for Suu Kyi and Burma. Suu Kyi studied in the UK and maintains many ties there, whilst Britain is Burma's largest bilateral donor.

2012 by-elections[link]

In December 2011, there was speculation that Suu Kyi would run in the 2012 national by-elections to fill vacant seats.^[132] On 18 January 2012, Suu Kyi formally registered to contest a Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house) seat in the Kawhmu Township constituency in special parliamentary elections to be held on 1 April 2012.^[133][134] The seat was previously held by Soe Tint, who vacated it after being appointed Construction Deputy Minister, in the 2010 election.^[135] She ran against Union Solidarity and Development Party candidate Soe Min, a retired army physician and native of Twante Township.^[136]

Aung San Suu Kyi (Center) gives speech to the supporters during 2012 by-election campaign at her constituency Kawhmu township, Myanmar on 22 March 2012.

On 3 March 2012, at a large campaign rally in Mandalay, Suu Kyi unexpectedly left after 15 minutes, because of exhaustion and airsickness.^[137]

In an official campaign speech broadcast on Burmese state television's MRTV on 14 March 2012, Suu Kyi publicly campaigned for reform of the 2008 Constitution, removal of restrictive laws, more adequate protections for people's democratic rights, and establishment of an independent judiciary.^[138] The speech was leaked online a day before it was broadcast.^[139] A paragraph in the speech, focusing on the Tatmadaw's repression by means of law, was censored by authorities.^[140]

Suu Kyi has also called for international media to monitor the upcoming by-elections, while publicly pointing out irregularities in official voter lists, which include deceased individuals and exclude other eligible voters in the contested constituencies.^[141][142] On 21 March 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi was quoted as saying "Fraud and rule violations are continuing and we can even say they are increasing."^[143]

When asked whether she would assume a ministerial post if given the opportunity, she said the following:^[144]

I can tell you one thing – that under the present constitution, if you become a member of the government you have to vacate your seat in the national assembly. And I am not working so hard to get into parliament simply to vacate my seat.

On 26 March 2012, Suu Kyi suspended her nationwide campaign tour early, after a campaign rally in Myeik (Mergui), a coastal town in the south, citing health problems due to exhaustion and hot weather.^[145]

On 1 April 2012, the NLD announced that Suu Kyi had won the vote for a seat in Parliament.^[146] A news broadcast on state-run MRTV, reading the announcements of the Union Election Commission, confirmed her victory, as well as her party's victory in 43 of the 45 contested seats, officially making Suu Kyi the Leader of the Opposition in the lower house.^[147]

Although she and other MP-elects were expected to take office on 23 April when the Hluttaws resume session, National League for Democracy MP-elects, including Suu Kyi, said they might not take their oaths because of its wording; in its present form, parliamentarians must vow to "safeguard" the constitution.^[148][149] In an address on Radio Free Asia, she said "We don't mean we will not attend the parliament, we mean we will attend only after taking the oath... Changing that wording in the oath is also in conformity with the Constitution. I don't expect there will be any difficulty in doing it."^[150]

On 2 May 2012, National League for Democracy MP-elects, including Aung San Suu Kyi, took their oaths and took office, though the wording of the oath was not changed. ^[151] According to the Los Angeles Times, "Suu Kyi and her colleagues decided they could do more by joining as lawmakers than maintaining their boycott on principle." ^[152]

International support[link]

Aung San Suu Kyi has received vocal support from Western nations in Europe,^[153] Australia^[153] and North^[154] and South America, as well as India,^[4] Israel,^[155] Japan^[156] the Philippines and South Korea.^[157] In December 2007, the US House of Representatives voted unanimously 400–0 to award Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal; the Senate concurred on 25 April 2008.^[158] On 6 May 2008, President George Bush signed legislation awarding Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal.^[159] She is the first recipient in American history to receive the prize while imprisoned. More recently, there has been growing criticism of her detention by Burma's neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, particularly from Indonesia,^[160] Thailand,^[161] the Philippines^[162][163] and Singapore.^[164] At one point Malaysia warned Burma that it faced expulsion from ASEAN as a result of the detention of Suu Kyi.^[165] Other nations including South Africa,^[166] Bangladesh^[167] and the Maldives^[168] also called for her release. The United Nations has urged the country to move towards inclusive national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy, and full respect for human rights.^[169] In December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the human rights situation in Burma and calling for Suu Kyi's release—80 countries voting for the resolution, 25 against and 45 abstentions.^[170] Other nations, such as China and Russia, are less critical of the regime and prefer to cooperate only on economic matters.^[171] Indonesia has urged China to push Burma for reforms.^[172] However, Samak Sundaravej, former Prime Minister of Thailand, criticised the amount of support for Suu Kyi, saying that "Europe uses Aung San Suu Kyi as a tool. If it's not related to Aung San Suu Kyi, you can have deeper discussions with Myanmar."^[173]

Aung San Suu Kyi greeting supporters from Bago State in 2011.

Vietnam, however, did not support calls by other ASEAN member states for Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi, state media reported Friday, 14 August 2009.^[174] The state-run Việt Nam News said Vietnam had no criticism of Myanmar's decision 11 August 2009 to place Suu Kyi under house arrest for the next 18 months, effectively barring her from elections scheduled for 2010. "It is our view that the Aung San Suu Kyi trial is an internal affair of Myanmar", Vietnamese government spokesman Le Dung stated on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In contrast with other ASEAN member states, Dung said Vietnam has always supported Myanmar and hopes it will continue to implement the "roadmap to democracy" outlined by its government.^[175]

Nobel Peace Prize[link]

Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The decision of the Nobel Committee mentions:^[176]

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma) for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.

...Suu Kyi's struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades. She has become an important symbol in the struggle against oppression...

...In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991 to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour this woman for her unflagging efforts and to show its support for the many people throughout the world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by peaceful means.

—Oslo, 14 October 1991

Nobel Peace Prize winners (Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Mairead Corrigan, Rigoberta Menchú, Prof. Elie Wiesel, U.S. President Barack Obama, Betty Williams, Jody Williams and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter) called for the rulers of Burma to release Suu Kyi in order to "create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation with the direct support of the United Nations."^[56] Some of the money she received as part of the award helps fund London-based charity Prospect Burma, which provides higher education grants to Burmese students.^[177]

On May 21, 2012, it was announced that Aung San Suu Kyi would finally deliver her traditional Nobel lecture at Oslo's City Hall, two decades after receiving the peace prize.^[178]

Organizations[link]

• Freedom Now, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, was retained in 2006 by a member of her family to help secure Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest. The organization secured several opinions from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that her detention was in violation of international law; engaged in political advocacy such as spearheading a letter from 112 former Presidents and Prime Ministers to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to go to Burma to seek her release, which he did six weeks later; and published numerous opeds and spoke widely to the media about her ongoing detention. Its representation of her ended when she was released from house arrest on 13 November 2010.^[179]
• Aung San Suu Kyi has been an honorary board member of International IDEA and ARTICLE 19 since her detention, and has received support from these organisations.
• The Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université catholique de Louvain, both located in Belgium, granted her the title of Doctor Honoris Causa.^[180]
• In 2003, the Freedom Forum recognized Suu Kyi's efforts to promote democracy peacefully with the Al Neuharth Free Spirit of the Year Award, in which she was presented over satellite because she was under house arrest. She was awarded one million dollars.^[181]
• In June of each year, the U.S. Campaign for Burma organizes hundreds of "Arrest Yourself" house parties around the world in support of Aung San Suu Kyi. At these parties, the organizers keep themselves under house arrest for 24 hours, invite their friends, and learn more about Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi.^[182]
• The Freedom Campaign, a joint effort between the Human Rights Action Center and US Campaign for Burma, looks to raise worldwide attention to the struggles of Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.
• The Burma Campaign UK is a UK based NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) that aims to raise awareness of Burma's struggles and follow the guidelines established by the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi.
• St. Hugh's College, Oxford, where she studied, had a Burmese theme for their annual ball in support of her in 2006.^[183]
• Aung San Suu Kyi is the official patron of The Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen, Norway. She received the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize in 1990.
• She was made an honorary free person of the City of Dublin, Ireland in November 1999, although a space had been left on the roll of signatures to symbolize her continued detention.
• In November 2005 the human rights group Equality Now proposed Aung Sun Suu Kyi as a potential candidate, among other qualifying women, for the position of U.N. Secretary General.^[184] In the proposed list of qualified women Suu Kyi is recognised by Equality Now as the Prime Minister-Elect of Burma.^[3]
• The UN' special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, met Aung San Suu Kyi on 10 March 2008 before wrapping up his trip to the military-ruled country.^[185]
• Aung San Suu Kyi is an honorary member of The Elders, a group of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela.^[186] Her ongoing detention means that she is unable to take an active role in the group, so The Elders place an empty chair for her at their meetings.^[187] The Elders have consistently called for the release of all political prisoners in Burma.^[188]
• In 2008, Burma’s devoted human rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize, was welcomed as Club of Madrid Honorary Member.
• In 2011, Aung San Suu Kyi was named the Guest Director of the 45th Brighton Festival.^{[citation needed]}
• In June 2011, the BBC announced that Aung San Suu Kyi was to deliver the 2011 Reith Lectures. The BBC covertly recorded two lectures with Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, which were then smuggled out of the country and brought back to London.^[189] The lectures were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service on 28 June 2011 and 5 July 2011.
• In November 2011, Suu Kyi received Francois Zimeray, France's Ambassador for Human Rights.
• March 8, 2012, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird presented Aung San Suu Kyi a certificate of honorary Canadian citizenship and an informal invitation to visit Canada.
• In April 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron became the first leader of a major world power to visit Aung San Su Kyi and the first of a British prime minister since the 1950s. In his visit, Cameron invited San Su Kyi to Britain where she would be able to visit her 'beloved' Oxford, an invitation which she later accepted; no specifec date has been confirmed but the month is thought to be June 2012.
• In May 2012, Suu Kyi received the inaugural Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent of the Human Rights Foundation.^[190]
• 29 May 2012 PM Manmohan Singh of India visited Aung San Suu Kyi. In his visit, PM invited San Suu Kyi to India as well.