Myanmar (BBN)- The metal gate from the house of Burmese Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is to be sold at auction.
The gate, painted the red and yellow of her party in 2007, became a symbol of the struggle against Myanmar’s military rulers during her long house arrest, reports BBC.
Soe Nyunt, Ms Suu Kyi’s supporter and friend, announced the sale with a starting price of $200,000 (£132,600).
The money will go towards a new headquarters for Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
Ms Suu Kyi spent much of the 1990s and 2000s under various forms of house arrest.
In times when she had relative freedom, she would make speeches from behind the gate to a crowd gathered on the other side.
The BBC’s Jonah Fisher in Yangon says during long periods of house arrest the gates were the stage for some of her bravest acts of defiance.
In 2010, she waved from behind the gate to her supporters as she celebrated the end of her house arrest.
Shortly after that the gate was replaced with grey doors.
Soe Nyunt said in his post on Facebook: “If this great door [could] speak, it [could] narrate about the history of Burmese democracy combat for 25 years.”
The gate will be auctioned along with Ms Suu Kyi’s old house number plaque – number 54.
Soe Nyunt did not give a date for the auction.
BBN/SK/AD-31Jan15-11:10am (BST)
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
