The Aung San Family In Myanmar

Aung San Suu Kyi is a well-known Myanmar (Burma) opposition leader (born 1945). She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her valiant resistance against the cruel military rule in her homeland, which she continues to do.

In the 1960s, her mother served as ambassador to India. All of her countrymen hold her in high regard.

Furthermore, Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San, a legendary figure in Burmese history and a national hero who was assassinated in 1947.

Aung San may be a national hero in Burma, yet he worked with the Japanese war-crime-tainted military machine throughout WWII, switching allegiances to the winning side just five months before the Japanese surrendered.

In 1942, Aung San created a Burmese detachment, the "Burma Independence Army," to help the Japanese invade Burma. In Ba Maw’s puppet administration, he was promoted to Minister of Defense (1943-5).

He opportunistically defected to the Allies, together with the Burma National Army, in March 1945, in what amounted to a coup, and worked closely with the British, whom he had previously claimed to be fighting for freedom.

When the conflict was done, he formed the People's Volunteer Organization, a private militia under his command. He then went on to negotiate Burma's independence from Britain as well as the country's first elections. In 1947, he was assassinated together with his brother and four other family members, most likely by a political foe named U Saw.

Copied with permission from: http://plrplr.com/33090/the-aung-san-family-in-myanmar/