No bidders have appeared at an auction in Myanmar for the sale of the home of jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for which the starting price was reported to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
The family property on Yangon’s Inye Lake was up for auction by order of the supreme court, after a years-long legal battle between Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a 2021 coup, and her estranged brother Aung San Oo.
“No buyer came today so the officer in charge of the auction already left,” a witness told Reuters on Wednesday, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Ahead of the auction, a small crowd of mostly journalists gathered outside the colonial-era house on leafy University Avenue, a few doors down from the US embassy.
Officials emerged from the locked gates and announced the opening of the auction by striking a small bell three times, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Above the gate hung a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, the independence hero Aung San. The auctioneer, wearing a sarong-like longyi, held his hand up for bids, but there was only silence, said AFP.
“There is no one to bid,” he announced, striking the bell again to close the auction.
Plainclothes security officers also took photos of journalists covering the event.
AFP reported there was a notice on the gate which advertised the price as 315bn kyats, or US$150m based on the official exchange rate. However other media outlets reported the price at around US$90m.
Aung San Oo could not immediately be reached for comment and a spokesperson for Myanmar’s military government did not immediately respond to requests for comment either, Reuters said.
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is serving 27 years in detention at an undisclosed location for a multitude of offences her supporters say are fabricated.
She had lived in the decrepit, colonial-style villa for the bulk of the more than three decades she has spent in Myanmar since returning from Britain, including 15 years of house arrest under a previous junta.
Aung San Suu Kyi moved residence to the capital Naypyidaw to attend parliament after her release and remained there as Myanmar’s de facto leader until her ousting in February 2021.
She gave impassioned speeches to crowds of supporters over the metal gates of the house and it was the site of some of her most high-profile meetings, including with former US president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
The family home was handed down by her mother, Khin Kyi, after the assassination of her father and independence hero Gen Aung San in 1947.
The 78-year-old’s estranged brother, Aung San Oo first sued in 2000 for a share of the property. In 2016, a court rendered a verdict dividing the plot equally among the siblings.
Aung San Oo appealed unsuccessfully multiple times for the court to have the property sold by auction and the proceeds split between him and Aung San Suu Kyi. After the coup, the supreme court granted his special appeal and ruled to sell the property by auction.
Aung San Suu Kyi remains hugely popular in Myanmar, even after her international image was tainted by her power-sharing deal with the generals.
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse