YANGON – The Myanmar military regime failed to sell a family mansion belonging to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the country’s commercial capital.

       A government representative announced that the Aug 15 auction for the colonial-styled home near Yangon’s scenic Inya lake failed as no buyer showed up.

       The auction was an attempt to settle a decades-long dispute between Ms Suu Kyi and her estranged elder brother Aung San Oo.

       He successfully petitioned the court in 2019 to sell the property – and for a share of the proceeds.

       The 79-year-old Nobel laureate could spend the rest of her life in jail despite repeated calls for her release by the international community.

       Her allies, the shadow National Unity Government, has designated the mansion as a national heritage, prohibiting any form of selling and possession of the property.

       No bidders showed up for the first auction in March, and the court reduced the floor price to 300 billion kyat – around US$140 million (S$184.42 million) at the junta’s official exchange rate of 2,100 kyat to the dollar.

       By signing up, I accept SPH Media's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy as amended from time to time.

       Ahead of the auction, a small crowd of mostly journalists gathered outside the colonial-era house on leafy University Avenue, a few doors from the United States embassy.

       Above the gate, a portrait of Ms Suu Kyi’s father, independence hero Aung San, watched over the proceedings while armed police stood guard behind sandbags.

       A notice pasted to the door by a local court advertised “Buildings and every heirloom under the name of Daw Khin Kyi” – Ms Suu Kyi’s mother.

       An auctioneer came out of the compound and asked three times for any buyers, then announced the auction was unsuccessful when none came forward.

       The mansion serves as a symbol of the South-east Asian nation’s struggle for democracy, with Ms Suu Kyi spending 15 years under house arrest there until her release in 2010.

       She frequently used the private residence to host world leaders, including former US President Barack Obama, after she was freed.

       Ms Suu Kyi left Yangon in 2012 and moved to the capital Naypyidaw to govern as part of an uneasy power-sharing arrangement with the military.

       She was detained there in the early hours of Feb 1, 2021 when the military seized power again, ending a 10-year experiment with democracy and plunging the South-east Asian nation into bloody turmoil. BLOOMBERG, AFP