Myanmar junta bid to sell Aung San Suu Kyi mansion flops for third time

YANGON: Myanmar's junta failed in its attempt to auction Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside mansion on Wednesday (Feb 5), with no bids submitted for the former democracy leader's home – the third time the sale has flopped.

The two-storey Yangon house, with about 0.8 ha of land, was put up for sale with a minimum price of US$140 million following a decades-long dispute over the property between the Nobel laureate and her brother.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest at the mansion under a former junta, has been detained since the military seized power once again in February 2021.

Around a dozen journalists, watched over by security personnel in plain clothes, attended the kerbside sale outside the colonial-era house on leafy University Avenue, a few doors from the US embassy.

After calling for bids starting from 297 billion kyats (US$140 million) and getting no response, the auctioneer called off the sale, AFP reporters at the scene saw.

"I announce the auction is not successful after calling for bids three times," the auctioneer said.

Similar auctions failed in March and August last year.

With Myanmar's economy shattered by the civil war triggered by the military coup, it is unclear who in the country would be in a position to spend US$140 million on a single, increasingly dilapidated property.

Real estate agents say similar-sized properties in upmarket Yangon areas might fetch US$1 million to US$2 million.

The house holds a special place in Myanmar history – Aung San Suu Kyi was confined within its crumbling walls for around 15 years after shooting to fame during huge demonstrations against the then-junta in 1988.

Cut off from her husband and children in England, Aung San Suu Kyi spent time playing the piano, reading detective novels and meditating as her status as a democratic leader grew.

Hundreds of people would regularly gather on the pavement outside to hear her talk about democracy and fighting military rule through non-violence.

After her release in 2010, she lived on in the villa, receiving a string of foreign leaders, including then-US president Barack Obama, journalists and diplomats.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 79, is serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges ranging from corruption to not respecting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions – charges rights groups say are a junta sham designed to eliminate her politically.