There are no buyers for Aung San Suu Kyi's villa, where she was under house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi has previously hosted world leaders at the villa. Photo: Reuters/Saul Loeb

Auction of a lakeside villa where Myanmar lived. Detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent years under house arrest, has received no offers and potential buyers may have been put off by the risk.

The two-story building has become a symbol of Ms Suu Kyi's long fight against The south-east Asian country's military grip was put up for sale with a reserve price of 315 billion kyats (around £118 million) under a Supreme Court will.

Analysts believed the purchase was too risky. , since anyone who buys the house will likely be seen as a traitor and a possible murder target.

«Anyone who decides to buy Aung San Suu Kyi's house under current circumstances will immediately rise to the top of the Burmese 'most hated' list because Suu Kyi is still very popular and widely viewed as the legitimate, democratically elected leader of the country,» Phil said Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Given the very real risk of the situation changing, as well as persecution by those who oppose the junta, spending [$150 million] on real estate seems like a very bad deal.” investment.”

World leaders hosted guests during the colonial era. villa

The auction is the latest twist in a years-long dispute between the pro-democracy leader and her former brother Aung San Ou, who has filed several lawsuits challenging Ms Suu Kyi's ownership of a colonial-era house on the green property. street in Yangon.

However, Wednesday morning's sale attracted only a small crowd — mostly journalists, officials and plainclothes security personnel — according to AFP. The auctioneer's request for bids in the traditional sarong-like longi was met with silence.

“There is no one to bid,” he announced before ringing the bell to close the auction.

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The increasingly dilapidated house, set on 1.9 acres of land, is almost as famous as Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Cut off from her husband and children, who were in England, the 78-year-old woman was detained in a house by the junta for about 15 years, becoming a leader of the pro-democracy movement during mass demonstrations in 1988.

Later, when Suu Kyi emerged from house arrest to lead the country, she hosted world leaders at the villa, including Barack Obama, who called her an “icon of democracy.”

Barack Obama, seen here at the villa, called Suu Kyi an «icon of democracy»; Photo: AFP/Mandel Ngan

Her legacy was overshadowed by her time in power, when she defended generals against accusations of committing genocide against the Rohingya minority. That uneasy power-sharing deal with the military has since fallen apart when the junta seized control of Myanmar in a coup in February 2021.

But Suu Kyi remains hugely popular in her beleaguered country, and this status will most likely scare off potential buyers.

“[This is] a lot of money at a time of economic crisis and significant capital flight,” said Richard Horsey, a Myanmar-based analyst at Crisis Group. “However, there are people who have the wealth needed to buy it, but it would be a huge risk.

“Most of the country would immediately revile them and consider them traitors. This will cause such bad publicity and reputational damage that it will be difficult to ever recover from it, and the buyer will be targeted.»

He added that this risk «is not just theoretical», since several high-ranking officials were killed after the coup.

Ms Suu Kyi has been detained again by the military junta. Photo: AFP

The third factor is title security. The exiled government of national unity said it would treat any sale as invalid, while Ms Suu Kyi's lawyers challenged the decision as they had been unable to meet with her for more than a year.

“The chance is high. that under another political decision in the future the deal would be annulled or the property would be confiscated and returned to the rightful owner,” Mr. Horsey said.

The Democratic figurehead is currently serving a 27-year sentence. in an undisclosed location, charges her supporters say are fabricated.

But as the country's brutal civil war intensifies, many of those fighting for democracy have largely abandoned Mr. Zhi Suu Kyi — armed resistance groups emerged instead, seeking to overthrow the army.