From peace icon to pariah: Aung San Suu Kyi's fall from grace

Similarly, when she met then Labour leader Ed Miliband, the decision was taken to introduce her not just to him but to the whole shadow cabinet and their advisers. Miliband even proposed that the NLD would become a sister party to Labour, though the agreement was never formalised.

The NLD win in the 2015 elections led to the party having a parliamentary majority and Aung San Suu Kyi being appointed state counsellor, the equivalent of prime minister. The global expectations placed on her were unrealistically high, said Benedict Rogers, leader of the East Asia team at human rights organisation CSW. He had met Aung San Suu Kyi multiple times. For all the talk of progress, she was still constrained by the 2008 constitution, which secured the untouchable power of the military and guaranteed them 25% of the parliamentary seats.

The NLD’s parliamentary majority does give the party legislative power, but no policy to advance the progress of democracy has materialised in three years. Aung San Suu Kyi continues to refuse to delegate, holding not just the state counsellor title but also minister of education and minister of the president’s office. Most decisions – big or small – have to go through her, making the Myanmar government a highly inefficient operation.

“We knew the 2015 election was not a transition to democracy, we knew the military’s intent was not genuine, but we thought that at least Aung San Suu Kyi would move in the areas she could with a parliamentary majority: things like releasing political prisoners, repealing repressive laws, creating a free press, trying to improve the economy, environmental issues,” said Farmaner. “She hasn’t done any of those things. Even the limited expectations we had have not been met.”

But Aung San Suu Kyi’s name has been irrevocably tarnished most by her refusal to speak out against both the brutal violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rahkine and the jailing of the two Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who are widely thought to have been set up after their exposure of the military’s brutal actions.

The Rohingya Muslims have always been one of the most persecuted minorities in Myanmar but had long placed their faith in Aung San Suu Kyi as the leader who would at last treat them as rightful citizens. They were always among those demonstrating on her behalf since the 1990s, standing shoulder to shoulder with the NLD.

It was trust that proved to be misplaced. While she was not responsible for the military crackdown that occurred in Rahkine state in August 2017, she has said nothing to condemn it since it happened. Aung San Suu Kyi propagated assertions that the military’s actions were an appropriate response to a Rohingya militia uprising, even describing the generals accused of genocide as “quite sweet”.

She is also said to regularly express irritation to diplomats that all anyone talks to her about is Rahkine. Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur to Myanmar, said Aung San Suu Kyi was “annoyed” when she raised the Rohingya in their meeting.

Richardson was among those on an advisory panel set up by Aung San Suu Kyi to help address the Rohingya crisis, but such was her stubbornness on the topic, Richardson swiftly – and very publicly – quit in January this year.

“I think she has bought into the military narrative of what happened in Rakhine,” said Richardson. “There was – and remains – no space for dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi on Rakhine. She views anyone who offers constructive criticism that does not fit her narrative as disloyal.”

Richardson was unapologetic in his condemnation of the woman he had once championed. “Her lofty rhetoric belies reality,” he said. “She has an autocratic leadership style and is overly reliant on a small circle of old-guard advisers.”

One of the few figures who does still have regular access to Aung San Suu Kyi, and remains positive about her, is Roelf Meyer, the South African politician who helped negotiate the end of apartheid.

He is now working on the ground in Rahkine on reconciliation for the Rohingya. “I have access to her and I have access to what I want to achieve in Rahkine and nobody is prohibiting me,” said Meyer, speaking for the first time about his involvement in Myanmar. “Whenever I want to meet her to give feedback, I can. If she didn’t want to solve this, she wouldn’t have allowed me to continue.”

Even with space for civil society shrinking fast, critics jailed and the peace process stalled, loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi within Myanmar remains steadfast. But her continued resistance, at the age of 73, to allowing anyone to emerge as her successor has made many outside the country worried for the future. For Rogers, this was also illuminating in terms of her mindset.

“I’m now beginning to wonder how much of her motivation in the whole struggle was truly for democracy and how much of it was more based around her own sense of destiny to do this as the daughter of Aung San, and for that reason she wanted to be in power,” he said. “I think that may be more of a factor than any of us had realised.”