YANGON: Myanmar authorities failed to auction off Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakeside mansion on Tuesday -- the fourth time the sale of the jailed Nobel peace laureate’s property has attracted no bidders.
A court-appointed auctioneer emerged from the rusty gate of the sprawling two-storey pile on Yangon’s leafy University Avenue Road to offer it at a discounted $128 million starting price.
Surveyed by a gaggle of journalists and around a dozen police, the auctioneer asked for bidders three times before proclaiming: “We hereby announce that the auction is not successful.”
Suu Kyi has been jailed since being deposed by a 2021 military coup but spent years under house arrest at the historic property during a previous period of junta rule.
After lengthy legal wrangling her estranged brother has won the rights to half of the villa. Its sale is being overseen by junta-appointed officials and Suu Kyi is entitled to half of the proceeds.
During her house arrest at 54 University Avenue Road, Suu Kyi would make speeches at the boundary fence -- drawing crowds of hundreds with lofty rhetoric about democracy and non-violent resistance.
Myanmar’s decade-long democratic experiment saw Suu Kyi become the elected figurehead after her release in 2010, and the colonial-era home was where she steered its nascent civilian government.
As the country began to recover from pariah status it saw a series of landmark visits from foreign leaders including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Since the military snatched back power, Suu Kyi has been jailed in the capital Naypyidaw on a litany of charges critics have slammed as farcical and designed to remove her from politics.
Real estate agents say similar-sized properties in upmarket Yangon areas might fetch $1 million to $2 million.
With Myanmar’s economy shattered by the civil war triggered by the military coup, it is unclear who in the country would be in a position to spend $128 million on a single, increasingly dilapidated property.
It was first put up for sale in March 2024 for 315 billion kyats -- $150 million based on the official exchange rate -- but has been incrementally discounted in each of the three auctions since then.
