On Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, recalling the cake that rattled the junta
The Myanmar military’s propaganda channels on Telegram have been busy inciting the surveillance and arrest of people planning to hold a flower strike and wear blue shirts to commemorate detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s 80th birthday on Thursday, The Irrawaddy reports.
Many people believe the social media campaign reflects the junta’s fear of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who still enjoys widespread public support despite having been in detention by the regime since the coup.
As she turns 80, the Nobel laureate is in her fourth period of detention since 1989. She has been held since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, which ousted her National League for Democracy (NLD) government. The junta sentenced her to 27 years in prison on charges she denies, and she has since been held incommunicado, with her family and legal team barred from seeing her.
Of course, “Suu Kyi-phobia” among military generals is nothing new, but dates back to previous regime leader Than Shwe’s time, as illustrated by an incident that occurred in 1994, when a single birthday cake from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi caused a stir at military headquarters.
At the time she was under her first period of house arrest, confined to her lakeside residence in Yangon. She baked a small cake for her 49th birthday and sent it to the Ministry of Defense’s Military Intelligence (MI) Directorate as a gesture.
Ordinarily, a birthday cake is just a cake, but for the MI office, which was constantly monitoring her every activity at the time, whether playing the piano, taking a walk in her garden, or reading—they even scrutinized the aerobic workout videotapes and other personal items sent by her husband Michael Aris—a cake was never just a cake, and its arrival was afforded great significance. During that period, the Military Intelligence Directorate carefully reviewed updates on her every morning, eventually amassing over 10 volumes of files on her activities.
The cake she sent bore a short note: “Release all detained prisoners as soon as possible.” The message rattled the gun-toting military generals, leaving them dumbfounded.
At that time, alongside Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, senior NLD leaders like U Tin Oo, U Kyi Maung, U Win Tin as well as NLD MPs, writers, journalists, artists, monks, students and citizens who demanded democracy were detained by the then regime for their political activism. Many endured torture in prison, died due to lack of proper medical care, or suffered from chronic illnesses.
MI officer Lieutenant Colonel Than Tun (later a major general), tasked with monitoring Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, took the cake to the MI’s upper echelons, according to “Digging Up the Past”, a memoir by former intelligence officer Major Win Naing Thaung.
Though the memoir doesn’t name the senior figures who inspected the cake, it’s reasonable to assume that Senior General Than Shwe and intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt were among those who scrutinized it thoroughly, turning it over and examining it closely.
The author noted that he was not at the military headquarters at the time. He arrived there two months later and his senior officers recalled the event.
They told him that after the cake was shown to the top brass, it was brought back downstairs, divided among the officers, and eaten. They remarked that the rare cake was delicious and thoroughly enjoyed.
Maj. Win Naing Thaung, who was responsible for analyzing intelligence reports and delivering timely updates to his superiors, writes that he missed the chance to taste the small—but historic—confection.
