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Suu Kyi, Son Reunited After 10 Years

Kim Aris allowed to visit Burma to visit freed mom

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 23, 2010 2:19 AM CST

(Newser) – Finally-free political activist Aung San Suu Kyi has been reunited with her younger son for the first time in a decade. Kim Aris, 33, greeted well-wishers after clearing immigration at Yangon's airport and removed his jacket to display tattoos of a fighting peacock, the emblem of his mother's pro-democracy party. The British citizen had been in Thailand for weeks awaiting a visa, which was granted after his mother's release from house arrest, the BBC reports.

Suu Kyi, who been kept in detention for most of the last 21 years by Burma's ruling military junta, has yet to be reunited with her elder son, and she has grandchildren she has never seen. Her late husband, British academic Michael Aris, died of cancer in 1999 after being repeatedly refused permission to visit his wife. British diplomats say Aris' visit is private and non-political, although analysts expect that both her supporters and the junta will be playing close attention to his visit.

Kim Aris shows his arm, tattooed with a symbol from his mother's NLD party's flag, on his arrival at Yangon International Airport.
Kim Aris shows his arm, tattooed with a symbol from his mother's NLD party's flag, on his arrival at Yangon International Airport.   (AP Photo)
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi holds the hand of her son as they leave Yangon International Airport.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi holds the hand of her son as they leave Yangon International Airport.   (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
Aung San Suu Kyi welcomes her son Kim Aris, at Yangon International Airport.
Aung San Suu Kyi welcomes her son Kim Aris, at Yangon International Airport.   (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
kokuaguy
Nov 23, 2010 5:01 PM CST
In the 1990 general elections, which the military junta declared null and void, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament. She is far more than a "political activist" as she is identified in this summary. Dr. Suu Kyi is in effect the rightful Prime Minister of the last legitimately elected government (not to mention being the daughter of the man generally acknowledged by most citizens as the "founding father" of modern, post-colonial Burma.) Dr. Suu Kyi has bravely refused to leave Burma / Myanmar knowing that she would probably be barred from returning -- this despite the death of her British husband, Dr. Michael Aris, from prostate cancer in 1999, and her separation from her two sons and from her grandchildren.

 
Myanmar • Burma • Aung San Suu Kyi • Aung San Suu Kyi release • National League for Democracy • Kim Aris

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