Famous and influential people of Burma

Aung San Suu Kyi, the very personification of Burma

It's impossible not to mention Aung San Suu Kyi when discussing the most influential people in Burma. A strong, militant and courageous woman, she battled for freedom of expression and democracy in Burma at a time when the country was ruled by an oppressive military dictatorship. In 1991 she received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her long struggle.

Since she returned to the country in 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi has dedicated a large part of her life to the people of Burma, to the detriment of her own family. She was held under house arrest in Rangoon by the military junta at the beginning of the 1990s and it was impossible for her to leave the country: if she had done so she would not have been able to return to Burma ever again. She was destined to never again see her husband, who died of cancer in 1999. She was finally freed completely in 2010 and conducted a tour of Europe in 2012, during which she accepted her Nobel Prize in person.

In April 2013, a report published by Human Rights Watch accused the Burmese authorities of aggravating clashes with Muslims and violence towards ethnic minorities. British newspaper The Guardian reported that Aung San Suu Kyi had stopped short of condemning ethnic violence and had insisted that no ethnic cleansing was taking place in a radio interview she gave in October 2013. Her words were strongly condemned by the international press.

Luc Besson made a film about her titled "The Lady", released in 2011. It retraced the life of this exceptional woman and included shots of some of Burma's landscapes.

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Burma's other major figures

Many of Burma's other most influential individuals are associated with either the military dictatorship or drug trafficking. Among them is Than Shwe, the leader of the military junta who governed with an iron fist from 1992 till 2011 before ceding his position to the current president, Thein Sein. A secretive, powerful man, his politics are simple: you do not engage in discussion with the opposition. He fought against the Karen rebels in the 1950s and supervised the arrests of Aung San Suu Kyi.

A lord of war and narcotics, Khun Sa was nevertheless also responsible for allowing the region known as the Golden Triangle to become more modernized. He gave himself up to the Burmese in 1996 but was never arrested. He lived under military protection until his death in 2007.

And finally, on a more positive note, we have Nilar Win, a champion in Burmese kickboxing (lethwei) and famous as one of the best fighters of the 1980s!