Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not attend the ceremony. She herself chose not to leave Myanmar because she would not be allowed to enter the country on her return. Suu Kyi was born in 1945 in Myanmar. She has been fighting for many years without violence to restore human rights in the former Burma. In 1992, Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Her father General Aung San was a leader in the independence struggle, but was assassinated by political opponents. Suu Kyi's mother was Burma's ambassador to India. Between 1964 and 1967, Suu Kyi studied at Oxford in the UK. She later worked in administration at the United Nations. In 1972, Suu Kyi was foreign minister for Bhutan, and in 1988 she married Dr Michael Aris in London. Suu Kyi left for the city of Rangoon in Burma in 1988. In 1989, the name Burma was banned and the old name Myanmar was reinstated.

Suu Kyi became general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD). She openly took issue with the State La wand Order Council (SLORC) administration. In 1989, she was put under house arrest, which attracted the attention of Amnesty International. In 1990, Suu Kyi won the general election with 82 per cent of the vote. From the SLORC generals, she did not get permission. In 1999, her husband died of prostate cancer, but she did not dare go to his funeral in England. She was afraid the military dictatorship junta would close the border to her. When her house arrest was extended, the United States decided in 2003 to stop doing business with the country. In 2009, her house arrest was extended again, following an action by American John William Yettaw. He felt he should be with her during her house arrest in Yangon (Rangoon). Suu Kyi was released in 2010.

For many people, Suu Kyi is a living symbol of freedom. The thinking is growing that an (Asian) solution can lead to change in the region. More people also agree with the idea that introducing a democracy according to the West would slow down rather than speed up developments.

Although Suu Kyi herself could not attend, she received many awards. These included the Sakharov Prize, Unesco Peace Prize, award of the Liberal International, Presidential Medal for Freedom, Jawaharlal Nehru Prize and several honorary memberships.