Aung San Oo: The Lawsuit

Aung San Oo
Aung San Oo (Burmese: ေအာင်ဆန်းဦး) is the elder brother of State Counsellor

Aung San Oo
of Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi; the two are the
only surviving children of Burmese independence leader Aung San. Aung San Native name ေအာင်ဆ န်း ဦး
Oo is an engineer. Aung San Oo has been described by the Burmese Lawyers' Nationality American
Council and the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma as a Occupation Engineer
potential surrogate of the junta in an attempt to humiliate Aung San Suu Kyi and
Spouse(s) Lei Lei Nwe Thein
place her in an untenable position.[1][2] Time magazine reports that, according to
Burmese exiles and observers in Rangoon, the junta used the alleged surrogacy
Parent(s) Aung San
of Aung San Oo and his lawsuit as an act of spite against the National League
Khin Kyi
for Democracy leader.[3] Relatives Aung San Suu Kyi
(sister)
Aung San Oo was educated in England and immigrated to the United States in
1973.[4] His wife, Lei Lei Nwe Thein (also spelled Leilei Nwe Thein), is also an
American citizen.[5]
The lawsuit
Aung San Oo is estranged from his sister; while Suu Kyi has become the leader
of the Burmese National League for Democracy party, Oo is close to the ruling
military junta. In 2000, Oo brought legal action against Suu Kyi in the Rangoon
High Court demanding a half-share in the family home, where she had been held
under intermittent house arrest from 1989 to 2010. There was widespread
speculation among observers at the time that Aung San Oo would then sell his
half-share to the junta,[2] but the High Court ruled against Oo, much to the
surprise of the same observers, who had assumed that it would bring down
whatever verdict was preferred by the junta.[3] The Burmese Lawyers' Council
describes the lawsuit as an attempt by the junta to publicly humiliate the leader
of the National League for Democracy.[1] The Burmese Government in exile
claims that had Aung San Oo won his case, he would have put Aung San Suu
Kyi in an extremely precarious position.[2] In the Time article it is also reported Aung San Oo as an infant.
that the junta may have used this legal manoeuver to "back Aung San Suu Kyi
into a corner", despite advice to the contrary by the visiting former Japanese
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto the year before the lawsuit.[3]
The mansion
Since 2005, Aung San Oo has been constructing a large mansion on a prime location within the exclusive Archaeological Zone in
Bagan. Oo himself, as a U.S. citizen, cannot legally hold property in Burma (it was on this basis that the Rangoon High Court
dismissed his claim for a half-share in the house in Rangoon), but his wife's family is understood to be acting as proxy on his
behalf. His wife, Daw Lei Lei Nwe Thein, is rumoured to harbour political ambitions for Oo through his connections with the
junta, although there is no independent source to confirm these rumours.[6]
References
1. LEGAL ISSUES ON BURMA (http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/LI
OB07-inheritance_case.htm) JOURNAL No. 7, DECEMBER
2000 BURMA LAWYERS' COUNCIL quote: "This approach
reeks of a sinister attempt to publicly humiliate the leader of the
National League for Democracy (NLD), which overwhelmingly
won the one and only democratic general election conducted
by the military junta."
2. NCGUB (http://burmacentredelhi.org/about-burma/about-assk.h
tml) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120304133510/htt Aung San Oo's mansion in Bagan, 2007
p://burmacentredelhi.org/about-burma/about-assk.html) March
4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine quote: "If he wins the case, U
Aung San Oo is expected to turn his share of the house over to the government, a result which would put Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi in an extremely precarious position."
3. TIME magazine, "Burmese Democracy Leader Faces New Threat", November 28, 2000 (http://www.cnn.com/ASI
ANOW/time/features/news/2000/11/27/burma.suu_kyi.html) quote: "Talk about spite. First, Burma's military
government told pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that she couldn't leave Rangoon. Then they told her
that she couldn't leave her house. Now, they want the house." and: "Late last year, former Japanese Prime
Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visited Burma and met with the generals. Burma's military is anxious for Japan to
resume aid to their country, which it cut off when soldiers gunned down thousands of democracy demonstrators
in 1988. Hashimoto gave the generals this advice when it came to dealing with Suu Kyi and her followers: Don't
back her into a corner. The generals, it appears, aren't listening."
4. Hansen, Barbara (1 February 1996). "The Kitchen Ambassador : Leilei Nwe Thein shares the culture and cooking
of Southern California's tiny Burmese community" (http://articles.latimes.com/1996-02-01/food/fo-30875_1_burm
ese-culture). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
5. "Burmese-American Citizen returns from Homeland Merch Mission" (http://e4mobile.com/pressreleases/18586).
ShelterboxUSA. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
6. Irrawaddy magazine, "Suu Kyi's Brother Builds a Winter Retreat", October 12, 2005 (http://www.irrawaddy.org/arti
cle.php?art_id=5066&page=2) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20101216154459/http://www.irrawaddy.org/
article.php?art_id=5066&page=2) December 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aung_San_Oo&oldid=904661786"
This page was last edited on 3 July 2019, at 16:53 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Aung San Oo: The Lawsuit

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Aung San Oo: The Lawsuit

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Aung San Oo: The Lawsuit

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Aung San Oo

Aung San Oo (Burmese: ေအာင်ဆန်းဦး) is the elder brother of State Counsellor

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aung_San_Oo&oldid=904661786"

This page was last edited on 3 July 2019, at 16:53 (UTC).

You might also like