PROFILE Aung San Suu Kyi: from hero's daughter to Myanmar leadership

Members of Myanmar's older generation remember the death of Aung San the way Americans over a certain age can recall where they were when US President John F Kennedy was shot.

Aung San was the founder of the Myanmar Army, and after World War II became a leader of the struggle for independence from Britain, before being assassinated in July 1947.

Independence came six months later, when his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, was only 2 years old. Although her father was dead, he became the defining personality of her life.

"She never for one moment forgot that she was the daughter of Burma's national hero, Aung San," wrote Michael Aris, her scholar husband, in the foreword to Suu Kyi's book Freedom From Fear, in 1991.

The couple married in 1972 and had two children, Alexander and Kim, who saw little of their mother after 1988, as she was placed under house arrest in Myanmar. Aris died in 1999 in Britain. (Courtesy of dpa-international.com)

Myanmar grants amnesty to 83 prisoners on new year day

Myanmar's government granted amnesty to 83 prisoners Sunday, the country's traditional new year day, according to a presidential order.

The presidential pardon was granted with an aim to bring about national reconciliation and to ensure peace of mind of the people on the occasion of the new year, said the presidential order.

On April 8, a total of 199 prisoners including political activists and students facing trial connected with politics were released from prisoners across the country.

That release came a day after State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to seek presidential pardon to political prisoners and activists. (Courtesy of Xinhua)