“The Burmese regime continues to use Aung San Suu Kyi as a bargaining chip,” her son Kim Aris tells us

Rome. A twenty-minute phone call, monitored by the military – the first since 1 February 2021, the day of the military coup in Myanmar that deposed the democratically elected Burmese leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – confirmed to Kim Aris that his mother was still alive. For over five years, her youngest son has been clamouring for news and the release of Suu Kyi, whom he simply calls ‘May May’ – ‘mum’ in Burmese – whilst to everyone else in Myanmar she is ‘The Lady’.  

A phone call “is a step in the right direction”, says Kim Aris to Il Foglio, whilst in Rome to attend a hearing at the Senate Human Rights Committee, but it is not enough, and must not be mistaken for freedom. “A single conversation is not the same as a normal family meeting,” he said immediately after hearing his mother’s voice for the first time in five years, on 22 October. He points out that May May “is still being unjustly detained, and a single conversation cannot restore the years that have been taken from her, nor the rights that are still being denied her today”. From the very first minutes of a recorded and strictly monitored call, Kim remained clear-headed about the battle he has been waging relentlessly since the military coup, bearing firmly in mind that regular, direct and private family contact, as well as independent access to medical care, must continue to be guaranteed. “Above all, my mother and all political prisoners must be released immediately and unconditionally.” Aris explains that the moment he answered the phone at the Myanmar Embassy in London, both he and his mother knew they would be recorded, so “we did not discuss any sensitive matters. “She managed to let me know that she is in good health, but she is in a great deal of pain in one hand, due to tendon degeneration, and the pain is so severe that she often cannot even move it.” Over the years, Aung San Suu Kyi’s health, her heart problems and the harsh prison conditions for an 81-year-old woman have never moved the military regime to show any compassion. To reassure him, the Burmese leader told her youngest son to undergo medical checks every six months by military personnel; Aris says he has no faith in this, having learnt over the years to be wary of the junta’s “lies”, such as when they announced, last April, Suu Kyi’s transfer from prison to house arrest at a “residence” in the capital, Naypyidaw. Although she is no longer in a prison cell, says Aris, her conditions are even harsher: she is not in her home in Yangon, and “she is essentially being held in isolation, because she is not allowed to see anyone other than the military or the police”, in an unknown location, surrounded by very high fences and wasteland. “She has no access to any news sources, so she doesn’t know what’s happening in the rest of the world,” he says; he would have liked to talk to her about things other than family matters, but it is difficult to know what is actually permitted under the regime, and he knew that doing so might jeopardise any future contact.

Kim Aris is well aware that although her mother has spent more than a quarter of her life under house arrest and in prison, her suffering “represents a microcosm of a far wider devastation: a relentless campaign of human rights violations and the deliberate and violent destruction of a country by the illegitimate regime led by Min Aung Hlaing”. The head of the military junta has, since the start of the civil war in Myanmar, used the Burmese leader as a bargaining chip for international recognition, and in particular since he “proclaimed himself president”, Kim points out, following last December’s sham elections, he has used her “to improve his image on the world stage, by showing that she is still alive and in good health”, in an attempt to demonstrate that this “civilian” government is different from the junta that seized power in 2021, and which had been holding her in prison”. “Nothing has changed in the country. Things continue to get worse; the military continues to regularly bomb innocent civilians.” They have failed to honour any of the commitments made over the last five years, and there is no change in sight: in the two weeks during the elections alone, around seven hundred civilians died. Today in Myanmar, there are over 3 million internally displaced people and 2 million people who have fled the country, particularly since the compulsory conscription law came into force. “A huge number of young people are leaving the country, and will continue to do so, because the situation there is only getting worse.” This is why fundamental human rights cannot be traded for international legitimacy, says Kim, let alone for the easing of sanctions: in recent months, the regime has once again become a negotiating partner for countries in South-East Asia and beyond; even the US administration has initiated direct talks with the Burmese government. Yesterday, the Philippines announced that leaders of the Burmese regime remain barred from attending the ASEAN summit to be held next week in Manila. “Anyone working with the junta will find they do not achieve the results they desire; it has been demonstrated time and again that it is unable to guarantee a stable environment in which businesses in Burma can thrive. This, for example, is China’s main concern: that its activities and initiatives there can actually go ahead.” Freedom is non-negotiable, says Kim Aris, and to those who wonder whether a compromise might be necessary for her release, she replies that this, ultimately, “is neither up to me nor to them. It depends solely on my mother and on Min Aung Hlaing, who imprisoned her on entirely false charges and has the power to release her at any time. May May is a very strong woman and will not accept conditions that prevent her from playing a part in the country’s future.”

After six years of repression, the Burmese people are becoming increasingly disheartened, and hope is fading, “but at the same time there is a large section of the population that does not want to give up now”, says Kim. “We must remember that the military actually controls only between 23 per cent and 25 per cent of the territory. Admittedly, 75 per cent of the population lives in that area, but what is important to remember is that they are not in the position of strength they wish to project.” That is why I still see a bright future for Myanmar: “I hope my mother will be released along with all the other political prisoners and that full democracy will be restored”, and that the military will be held to account for their actions before the courts. Speaking before the Senate Human Rights Committee, Aung San Suu Kyi’s son reiterated that the Burmese people have not given up: despite aerial bombardments, arbitrary arrests and the blocking of humanitarian aid, “a determined and resilient coalition of young people, ethnic resistance organisations and representatives of civil society continues to demand and actively work towards the realisation of a truly democratic federal union”. A coalition that fights for this freedom every single day, and does not ask the world to fight its battle in its stead: “it simply asks that the world stop funding, arming and legitimising those who oppress it”.