Still no takers: Myanmar junta’s bid to auction Suu Kyi’s lakeside mansion flops… for the third time

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A policeman standing guard is surrounded by journalists outside the gate of the family house of detained Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on February 5, 2025, during an attempt to auction the lakeside mansion. — AFP pic

YANGON, Feb 5 — Myanmar’s junta failed in an attempt to auction Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakeside mansion today, with no bids submitted for the former democracy leader’s home — the third time the sale has flopped.

The two-storey Yangon house, on about 0.8 hectares of land, was put up for sale with a minimum price of $140 million following a lengthy legal wrangle over the property between the Nobel laureate and her brother.

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 run by junta-appointed officials 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 — around US$140 million (RM622 million) at the official exchange rate — 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.

The sale is being run by junta-appointed officials on behalf of Suu Kyi’s estranged brother Aung San Oo, who won a court ruling granting him ownership of half of the property.

Aung San Oo, who has lived outside Myanmar for decades, agreed the minimum sale price with the junta, which has run two previous unsuccessful auctions, 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 $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 $2 million.

The house holds a special place in Myanmar history — 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, Suu Kyi spent time playing the piano, reading detective novels and meditating as her status as a democracy 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 continued living at the villa, receiving a string of foreign leaders — including then US president Barack Obama, journalists and diplomats.

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. — AFP