Kim wants to know if his mum is alive. It’s not easy for the son of Suu Kyi

Kim Aris simply wants to know whether his mum is dead or alive. It should be an easy question to answer, but not so for the younger son of Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Right now I’m trying to establish whether or not my mother is actually alive or not,” he said.

The pro-democracy icon has been detained since February 2021, when she was ousted as Myanmar’s civilian leader, and her fate has been in the hands of a secretive, brutal junta that has waged war against its own citizens.

Aris last spoke with his mother a few days before Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power, on the eve of what should have been Suu Kyi’s second term in office as the de facto head of the National League for Democracy’s government.

“She did warn me something was around the corner, she wasn’t quite sure what, but I certainly had an inkling something was on its way,” Aris said of their last conversation.

While he ultimately wants to see her free to continue her lifelong mission, the 48-year-old is visiting Australia for a campaign called Proof of Life. Aris has had very little credible information about Suu Kyi’s welfare or whereabouts for five years.

He does not trust information from military spokespeople or prison personnel, and “it’s only when certain different sources correlate with one another that my ears prick up”.

“The only things that we’ve already heard of substance is that her health has been deteriorating, and that includes problems with her teeth and gums, as well as heart problems and other age-related problems,” Aris said.

“So this is my main concern, is that Min Aung Hlaing will be letting her rot in jail, basically, and it doesn’t matter to him whether or not she’s in a great deal of pain or suffering.

“At least when she was under house arrest, I knew where she was. I knew that she had her own personal doctor who was able to attend to her, and we were actually able to communicate at times at that time, but now there’s been nothing except for the one letter I’ve had, which is over two years ago now.”

Aris has fond memories of house arrest. When he was about 11 or 12, he had his mother “all to myself, and we could do normal things”. They read books and cooked together.

Aris has spent most of his life in England; his father, Michael, was a historian who died in 1999; his older brother Alexander accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his mother’s behalf in 1991. The two sons were stripped of their citizenship, but the fact their father was a foreigner was used against Suu Kyi when the generals rewrote the constitution to exclude her from becoming president.

Returning to Myanmar in the years Suu Kyi was free brought attention. In November 2010, Aris arrived in Yangon with the red flag, white star and golden peacock of the National League for Democracy on his left shoulder. Suu Kyi could hardly object to the tattoo, although he hints that his mother does not exactly approve. While Aris was visiting Yangon, Suu Kyi made her doctor find the most hygienic tattoo artist in the city and held his hand while he got a second one.

He is determined to skateboard 81 kilometres before his mother’s 81st birthday as part of the campaign, but laughs off the idea Suu Kyi would think of her son as a skater boy.

Their last meeting was in England about eight years ago. “I don’t know if she’ll always just be Mum now, you know, she’s got so many responsibilities on her shoulders, but it was nice to be able to just spend time [together], to eat a meal with her.”

In England, Aris can “be nobody”, but he reluctantly entered the public spotlight after the coup.

“If I don’t stand up for my mother, who will? Whilst the people of Burma all support her a great deal, their voices don’t carry that much in the international community. For some reason, mine does.”

In April, Myanmar state media reported that Suu Kyi was moved to house arrest as part of a broader amnesty. The reports remain unverified. Aris said he had no reason to trust that a photograph released in late April was proof his mother was alive and well.

“After all, the military have used these tactics for decades, and they’re very well used to playing the international community, and the international community fall for it all the time.”

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said: “Australia continues to call for the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and all those who remain unjustly detained in Myanmar. We expect her to be permitted contact with her family, access to her lawyers and appropriate medical care.”

While Aris met Foreign Minister Penny Wong last week, in Sydney he also caught up with Sean Turnell, the Australian professor who served as a special economic adviser to Suu Kyi’s government and was imprisoned for 650 days after the 2021 coup.

Aris and Turnell were on the same table on Saturday night at a community event in north-western Sydney to mark Suu Kyi’s impending birthday and pray for her safety. The event had flowers and cupcakes and featured uplifting songs, but it was tinged with sadness.

Turnell’s experience of prison at the same time as Suu Kyi is difficult for Aris to dwell on.

“His account of his time in prison is pretty harrowing, and when I saw the state of him when he came out of prison, obviously that was very concerning. If my mother’s going through all of that, then I just don’t know if she’ll make it out of there alive,” he said.

“I know my mother’s a very strong woman. If anybody can get through it, it’s her.”

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