Who among the following is the President of Republic of the Union of Myanmar?

Aung San Suu Kyi
Htin Kyaw
Myint Swe
Van Thio

The correct answer is: A. Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and Nobel laureate who served as the State Counsellor of Myanmar from 2016 to 2021. She was the first and only female head of government in Myanmar’s history.

Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1945 to Aung San, the founder of the modern Burmese state, and Daw Khin Kyi, a prominent nationalist figure. She studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, where she met her future husband, Michael Aris.

After returning to Myanmar in 1988, Suu Kyi became involved in the pro-democracy movement. She was placed under house arrest by the military government in 1989 and remained under house arrest for most of the next two decades. During her time under house arrest, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her “non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”.

In 2010, the military government released Suu Kyi from house arrest and allowed her to participate in the 2012 parliamentary elections. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory in the elections, but the military refused to hand over power.

In 2015, the NLD won another landslide victory in the parliamentary elections. This time, the military allowed Suu Kyi to become State Counsellor, a position that was created for her. As State Counsellor, Suu Kyi was the de facto head of government of Myanmar.

Suu Kyi’s tenure as State Counsellor was controversial. She was criticized for her handling of the Rohingya crisis, in which hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were displaced from Myanmar. She was also criticized for her close relationship with the military, which continued to hold power in Myanmar.

In 2021, the military seized power in Myanmar and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest. She remains under house arrest at the time of writing.