YANGON, Feb 5, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Myanmar's junta failed in its attempt to
auction Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside mansion on Wednesday, with no bids
submitted for the former democracy leader's home -- the third time the sale
has flopped.

The two-storey Yangon house, with about 0.8 hectares (1.9 acres) of land, was
put up for sale with a minimum price of $140 million following a decades-long
dispute over the property between the Nobel laureate and her brother.

Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest at the mansion under a former
junta, has been detained since the military seized power once again in
February 2021.

Around a dozen journalists, watched over by security personnel in plain
clothes, attended the kerbside sale outside the colonial-era house on leafy
University Avenue, a few doors from the US embassy.

After calling for bids starting from 297 billion kyats -- around $140 million
at the official exchange rate -- and getting no response, the auctioneer
called off the sale, AFP reporters at the scene saw.

"I announce the auction is not successful after calling for bids three
times," the auctioneer said.Similar auctions failed in March and August last
year.

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 $140
million on a single, increasingly dilapidated property.

Real estate agents say similar-sized properties in upmarket Yangon areas
might fetch $1 million to $2 million.

The house holds a special place in Myanmar history -- Suu Kyi was confined
within its crumbling walls for around 15 years after shooting to fame during
huge demonstrations against the then-junta in 1988.

Cut off from her husband and children in England, Suu Kyi spent time playing
the piano, reading detective novels and meditating as her status as a
democracy leader grew.

Hundreds of people would regularly gather on the pavement outside to hear her
talk about democracy and fighting military rule through non-violence.
After her release in 2010 she lived on in the villa, receiving a string of
foreign leaders, including then US president Barack Obama, journalists and
diplomats.

Suu Kyi, 79, is serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges ranging from
corruption to not respecting Covid-19 pandemic restrictions -- charges rights
groups say are a junta sham designed to eliminate her politically.