For his work towards Burmese independence and uniting the country, Aung San has consistently been seen as one of the most important and influential political figures in modern Burma. Within Burma he has been generally seen as a "larger-than-life hero" and the "architect of Burmese freedom". In the decades since Burmese independence it has been widely speculated that, had Aung San survived another twenty or thirty years, Burma would have developed a more stable political system and retained a higher standard of living. As for his own plans, his older brother Aung Than later wrote that Aung San had stated privately that he intended to retire from Burmese politics after the country's independence, believing that the political environment in Burma was too volatile, unpredictable, and dangerous for him to deal with comfortably.