Ne Win
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Bo Ne Win (Burmese: နေဝင္း IPA: [nè wín]; 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002), born Shu Maung) was a Burmese military commander and dictator of Burma from 1962 until 1988.
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[edit] Date of birth
Ne Win's exact date of birth is not known with certainty. The English language publication Who's Who in Burma published in 1961 by People's Literature House, Rangoon, stated that Ne Win was born on 24 May 1911. The late Dr. Maung Maung stated in the Burmese version of his book Burma and General Ne Win, which was also published in English, that Ne Win was born on 14 May 1911. However, in a book written in Burmese entitled (in translation) The Thirty Comrades, the author Kyaw Nyein gave Ne Win's date of birth as '10 July 1910'.
Kyaw Nyein's date of 1910 can be considered as the more plausible date. First, Kyaw Nyein had access to historical records and he interviewed many surviving members of the 'Thirty Comrades' when he wrote the book in the mid-to late 1990s. (Ne Win was one of the 'Thirty Comrades' which secretly went to take military training in Japanese occupied Hainan island in the early 1940s for the purpose of fighting the British who then ruled Burma. In his book published around 1998 Kyaw Nyein lists the names of the surviving members of the Thirty Comrades whom he had interviewed but Ne Win was not one of them.) Secondly, when Ne Win died on 5 December 2002, the Burmese language newspapers which were allowed to carry a paid obituary stated the age of 'U Ne Win' to be '93 years'. In Burmese practice a person who actually has turned 92 (ie when a person reaches the age of 92) he or she is formally considered to be in their 93rd year and, therefore, 93 years old. Since Ne Win turned 92 in July 2002, when he died in December 2002 he was considered to be 93 years old. Most western news agencies, based on the ostensible May, 1911 birth date, reported that Ne Win was 91 years old when he died but the actual obituary put up by his surviving relatives (most probably his children) stated that he was 93 years old, which would be 92 according to the Western way of calculating age.
[edit] Early years
U Ne Win, whose name was originally Shu Maung, was born into an educated middle class family in Paungdale which was about 200 miles north of Rangoon. Although Ne Win officially declared his ancestry to be Bamar, there is speculation that he had Chinese roots.[1][2] He spent two years at Rangoon University beginning in 1929, and took biology as his main subject with hopes of becoming a doctor. However, he left university and left Rangoon in 1931 to become a member of the anti-British nationalist group Dobama Asiayone (meaning 'We Burmans Association'). Other members of the group included Aung San (father of Aung San Suu Kyi) and U Nu. In 1941 he was one of the so-called 'Thirty Comrades' who were chosen for military training by the Japanese forces. He was a member of the Burmese Independence Army (BIA). During military training at the then Japanese-occupied Hainan Island Shu Maung chose a nom de guerre, Bo ('Commander') Ne Win ('Radiant Sun'). In early 1942 the Japanese and the BIA entered Burma in the wake of the retreating British forces. Ne Win's role in the campaign was to organize resistance forces behind the British lines.
The Japanese actions in Burma worked to alienate the nationalists as well as many Burmese. Toward the end of the Second World War, on 27 March 1945 the Burma National Army (successor to the BIA) turned against the Japanese following the British re-invasion of Burma. Ne Win, as one of the BNA Commanders, was quick to establish links with the British - attending the Kandy meeting and heading the anti-Communist operations the Pyinmana area as commander of the 4th Burma Rifles after two Communist separate parties went underground to fight against the government in October 1946 and 28 March 1948 respectively. Burma obtained independence on 4 January 1948 and for the first 14 years of independence it had a parliamentary and democratic government mainly under the then prime minister, U Nu, but the country was riven with political division. Even before independence, Aung San was assassinated on 19 July 1947; U Saw, a former prime minister and political rival of Aung San, was found guilty of the crime and executed.
Following independence there were uprisings in the army and amongst minority ethnic groups. In late 1948, after a confrontation between army rivals, Ne Win was appointed second in command of the army and his rival took a portion of the army into rebellion. He immediately adopted a policy of creating socialist militia battalions called Sitwundan under his personal command. In early 1949, Ne Win was given total control of the army. He rebuilt and restructured the armed forces along socialist political lines, but the country was still split and the government was ineffective.
Ne Win was asked to serve as interim prime minister from 28 October 1958 to 4 April 1960 by U Nu, when the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) led by then prime minister U Nu split into two and U Nu barely survived a motion of no-confidence against his government in parliament. Ne Win restored order during the period known as the 'Ne Win care-taker government'.[3]
Elections were held in February 1960 and Ne Win handed back power to U Nu on 4 April 1960.
[edit] 1962: the Coup d'état
However, less than two years later on 2 March 1962 Ne Win seized power this time through a military coup d'etat.
Protests against his government were dealt with effectively and ruthlessly; for example, students' protests in Rangoon on 7 July 1962 led to dozens of students being shot dead and the historic Rangoon University Student Union (RUSU) building being dynamited on 8 July 1962. The RUSU was a centre of anti-colonial struggles during the colonial days and many student leaders including Aung San and U Nu in the 1930s used the RUSU as a forum for discussions, protests and political activities against the British colonial government. After troops shot and killed up to about 100 students and after the historic RUSU building was dynamited around 5 a.m. (local time, Burma Standard Time, BST) on 8 July 1962 Ne Win addressed the nation on radio around 8 p.m. (20:00 hours) BST. Ne Win's speech to the country lasted only about five minutes or less. The last phrase of his speech (in translation) was 'if these disturbances were made to challenge us, I have to declare that we will fight sword (in Burmese 'da') with sword and spear (in Burmese 'hlan') with spear'. (Two different English translations of Ne Win's speech can be read in the front page of The Rangoon Nation and The Rangoon Guardian of 9 July 1962. Part of the title of The Nation’s headline of 9 July 1962 reads ' General Ne Win States Give Us Time to work: Obstructionists are warned: Will Fight Sword with Sword)'. This most infamous speech of his political career came to be known informally among the Burmese as 'sword with sword, spear with spear speech'. Ne Win spoke these words about 30 hours after his troops shot and killed about 100 unarmed students and about 12 to 13 hours after the RUSU building was dynamited. Within less than a week after the shootings at Rangoon University and the destruction of the RUSU building Ne Win left for Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom 'for a medical check up' on 13 July 1962. (News items of Ne Win's trip to these countries for 'medical check up' can be found in The Guardian and The Nation of 14 July 1962). Universities were closed for more than two years and were reopened only in September 1964.
[edit] 1962-1988: The Burmese Way to Socialism
Ne Win instituted a system involving elements of extreme nationalism, Marxism, and Buddhism. Part of his plan was to almost completely isolate the country from the rest of the world. For about ten years from 1962 foreigners could visit the country only for 24 hours to three days and in the early 1970s visas for foreigners were extended to one week. Fear of the West was high. The drastic political and economic measures taken by Ne Win and the Revolutionary Council that he headed were called the 'Burmese Way to Socialism' - the economy was nationalized, foreigners were expelled, political activists were imprisoned and ethnic and communist insurgencies were fought with massive military force. Since independence, the main ethnic problems arose in the south-eastern part of the country, where the British had made pre-independence promises of a separate Karen state or considerable autonomy for the ethnic Karens.
Sporadic student-led demonstrations against Ne Win's rule continued with demonstrations - at times followed by closure of Universities and Colleges after the demonstrations- in 1965, December 1969, December 1970, December 1974, June 1975 and September 1987. These demonstrations took place mainly in Universities and Colleges located in the cities of Rangoon, Mandalay and Moulmein. The 1974 Labour Strike was participated by workers from more than 100 factories throughout the nation and on 6 June 1974 shooting of many workers and some students took place at Thamaing Textile Factory and Sin-Ma-Like Dock Yard in Rangoon. At the time of the shootings of 6 June 1974, in which about 100 persons were thought to have died Ne Win was in Australia on an official visit; it is not known with certainty whether he ordered the shootings himself or the shootings orders were given by his underlings. Students from Universities throughout Rangoon demonstrated again in June 1975 in commemoration of the previous year's Labour Strike The student led demonstrations also occurred in March 1976, September 1987 , March and June 1988 and in August and September 1988 it became a nation-wide uprising against Ne Win's and BSPP rule in what is now known as the 'Four Eights Uprising'.
The actions of Ne Win caused many in the educated work-force to migrate, and Myanmar is still feeling its effects today. During the period of 1962 to 1988 when Ne Win formally ruled the country the policy of isolation was particularly damaging to the economy. The black market and rampant smuggling supplied the needs of the people, while the central government slid slowly into bankruptcy.
Ne Win was married on five official occasions and had at least five children from these different marriages. The 1972 death of his 'favourite' wife, Khin May Than (alias) Katie Ba Than, was a heavy blow to him.
[edit] 1987: Changes to the Currency
Ne Win was also noted for his interest in numerology. In September 1987 he ordered the Burmese currency the kyat to be issued in denominations of 15, 35, 45, 75 and 90 kyats, besides the existing 5 and 10 kyat notes.He changed the currency to add up to nine because a numerologist said he would live to 90 if he did this.
[edit] 1988: Unrest begins
By 1988 Ne Win had been in a number of official positions. He was Chairman of the Revolutionary Council from 2 March 1962 to 2 March 1974, Prime Minister of the Revolutionary Government from 2 March 1962 to 2 March 1974 and President of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma from 4 March 1974 to 9 November 1981. Most importantly, he established the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and was its chairman for 26 years from 4 July 1962 until his nominal resignation on 23 July 1988 at the height of the uprising against one-Party rule. From 23 March 1964 when all political parties were abolished by military decree of the Revolutionary Council, the BSPP was the sole political party in Burma.
On 23 July 1988, with Burma one of the poorest countries in the world, having being formally assigned by the United Nations (UN) as a 'Least Developed Country' (LDC) in 1987, Ne Win resigned as chairman of the then sole and ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party.
In what he prophetically called what might be his 'last speech before a public gathering' on 23 July 1988 at the BSPP Party Congress Ne Win stated -more than 26 years after the tragic events of 7 and 8 July 1962- that he was not involved in 8 July 1962 dynamiting of the Rangoon University Student Union building and that it was his former deputy Brigadier Aung Gyi who was responsible. Ne Win also stated that after he learnt of the destruction of the RUSU as a 'revolutionary leader' he had to take 'responsibility' and gave the 'sword with sword and spear with spear' speech. In the same speech of 23 July 1988 - and using the same threatening words and tone- Ne Win also warned the potential demonstrators that if the protests and 'disturbances' continued the 'Army would have to be called and I would like to declare from here that if the Army shoots it has no tradition of shooting into the air. It would shoot straight to hit'. And he added that (when the Army shoots to hit) 'it won't be easy' (alternatively it could be translated as 'you won't be spared'). (The English translation of Ne Win's speech could be found in 24 July 1988 issues of The [Rangoon] Guardian and The Working People's Daily). The Burmese troops which shot, killed and maimed hundreds if not up to 3000 or more demonstrators in various places throughout Burma from the period of 8 August 1988 to 12 August 1988 and again on 18 September 1988 (a period known as the '8888' or 'Four Eights' Uprising) proved that Ne Win’s ‘promise’ in his ‘farewell’ speech to the nation of 'shooting straight to hit' was kept with a vengeance.
During the various protests and uprisings against one-party rule starting from March 1988 there were brief hopes for democracy before a military group, then under the virtual tutelage of Ne Win, seized power on 18 September 1988 and brutally crushed the people's uprising. It is widely believed that Ne Win, though in apparent 'retirement', organized from behind the scenes, the military take-over which crushed the uprising.[4] For about ten years after the 18 September 1988 military coup Ne Win remained out of government but he was a shadowy figure exercising at least some influence on the military junta State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) whose name was later changed into State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on 15 November 1997.
[edit] 1998: Fall from Grace
From 1998 Ne Win's influence on the junta began to wane. In late September 2002 one of his sons-in-law (husband of his favorite daughter Sandar Win born to his third wife Daw Khin May Than, died 30 September 1972) and three of his grandsons (born to Sandar Win) were sentenced to death by a tribunal for treason in that they were alleged to have planned to overthrow the SPDC. Earlier, when the alleged plot was uncovered Ne Win as well as Sandar Win were put under house arrest on 4 March 2002.
[edit] 2002: Death
After being put under house arrest, the 92-year-old Ne Win died at 7:30 am (Burma Standard Time) on 5 December 2002 at his lakeside house in Yangon.
Even though Ne Win's death was not a noted event world-wide news services like the BBC and CNN carried the news of his death. None of the Burmese media carried the news of his death. Far from holding a State funeral, no formal announcement of his death was made by the State Peace and Development Council and the only notice of Ne Win's death was a paid obituary notice that appeared in some of the State-controlled Burmese language newspapers. None of the State Peace and Development Council members - his former underlings - attended his funeral. Former contacts or junior colleagues of Ne Win were strongly discouraged from attending this hastily-arranged funeral. It was rumored that former Brigadier Aung Gyi who, in 1962-63 was Ne Win's deputy in the Revolutionary Council and who later was dismissed from the RC and jailed for a few years by Ne Win - sought permission from some personnel of the SPDC to attend Ne Win's funeral but was strongly discouraged from doing so. (As indicated above in his last speech of 23 July 1988 Ne Win blamed Aung Gyi as ‘the real culprit’ in the destruction of the Rangoon University Student Union Building in July 1962).
The attitude and actions of SPDC to the funeral of their former boss could be contrasted with the funeral of U Nu, Burma's first Prime Minister whom Ne Win had overthrown in the military coup of 2 March 1962. Though none of the then State Law and Order Restoration Council members - the formal and previous name of the military junta at the time of U Nu's death - attended U Nu's funeral who had died on 14 February 1995 the SLORC did send a wreath for 'Prime Minister (retired) U Nu' at Nu’s funeral. U Nu's funeral was attended by thousands of people but only about twenty-five to thirty persons were said to have attended the hastily-held funeral of Ne Win.
It might be of some historical interest to briefly mention and compare Ne Win's age and longevity of rule with that of Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Both were top-rank military officers (Generals) before they took power through military coups (in 2 March 1962 and 4 May 1954 respectively). In terms of longevity, Ne Win could be the second-longest living (in contrast to longevity of dictatorial rule), among the dictators who 'flourished' from the mid to late 20th century. Stroessner was 93 years old when he died, Ne Win was 92 (if the 10 July 1910 date of birth is correct). In terms of the duration of their dictatorial rule Ne Win's and Stroessner's can be considered as being roughly 'co-equal'. Stroessner's rule lasted almost exactly 34 years and 9 months from 4 May 1954 to 3 February 1989 when he was overthrown in a coup. Even though Ne Win's formal rule ostensibly ended in July 1988 when he resigned from all official posts he was widely believed to be the 'puppet-master' who pulled the 'strings' of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and later State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) for about ten years (to about 1998) after his 'retirement' from politics. Moreover he was the caretaker Prime Minister (Head of Government) of Burma from 28 October 1958 to 4 April 1960. His formal rule lasted about 27 years and 10 months (28 October 1958 to 4 April 1960; 2 March 1962 to 23 July 1988) plus roughly ten years after his July 1988 'retirement': hence his formal and informal rule (behind the scenes) matched if not exceeded those of Stroessner. Whereas Stroessner was overthrown and died in exile in Brazil, Ne Win was not formally 'toppled' ; he just 'faded away' and only in the last ten months of his life Ne Win was put under house arrest by his former underlings in the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
Ne Win’s daughter Sandar Win was temporarily released from house arrest to attend Ne Win's funeral and cremation. His ashes were later dispersed into the Hlaing River by Sandar Win, who as of time of writing, is still under house arrest. Her husband and Ne Win's three grand-children who were earlier sentenced to death for treason also continued to remain, apparently, in Rangoon's Insein jail.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Leong, S.T. (1997). Migration and Ethnicity in Chinese History. Stanford University Press.
- ^ Maung, Mya (May 1994). "The Burma Road from the Union of Burma to Myanmar". Asian Survey 34.
- ^ (1993) Nicholas Tarling: The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia. ISBN 0-521-35505-2.
- ^ Stewart, Whitney (1997). Aung San Suu Kyi: Fearless Voice of Burma. ISBN 0-8225-4931-X.
