Kyaw Myint

U Kyaw Myint (Burmese: ကျော်မြင့်;born c. 1945) also known as May Flower Kyaw Win is a noted Burmese businessman and political figure. He is one of the wealthiest tycoons in Burma and is one of the country's leading industrialists and bankers.^[1] He is the director-general of the Directorate of Industry under the Ministry of Industry of Burma.

Biography

He was born into a poor Chinese family in a small village in northern Shan State. However, in 1968, when he was in his 20s, Kyaw Win worked in the border town of Tachilek, where he established business relationships with Thai businessmen. One of them was the notorious Thai logging tycoon, Choon Tangkakarn, owner of Pathumthani Sawmills.^[1]

Since 1990, Kyaw Win has managed in the timber business and in 1994, he established Myanmar May Flower Bank, the third biggest in Burma with ten branches of which he is the chairman.^[1] It was the first bank in Burma to have 24-hour automatic teller machines also was the first to introduce computer networks for transactions back in November 1995.^[1] In 1998, Aik Hok and Win Naing bought a large number of shares in May Flower Bank from Kyaw Win, and since then the bank’s activities have declined.^[1]

Kyaw Win is also involved in the following associations and businesses. He is Managing Director of Chin-Su Co, Ltd; Chairman of Chin-Su May Flower Plywood Industry; Chairman of TN Resources Pte Co, Ltd (Singapore); Chairman, of Pathum Thani Saw Mill Co, Ltd, (Thailand); and Managing Director of Yangon Airways.^[1] He has connections with the Asian Development Bank and important top ranking government officials, including General Maung Aye.^[1]

In 2004 he negotiated the building of a series of new pulp factories across several states of Burma including in Ponnagyun in Rakhine State which will consume nearly 900,000 tonnes of bamboo a year, and Thabaung township in Ayeyarwady Division which will begin commercial production at 200 tonnes a year and several other areas. The decision was part of a bilateral cooperation plan between the Ministry of Industry in Burma and China Metallurgical Construction Corporation signed during the visit of General Khin Nyunt, to China from July 11 to 17 in which U Kyaw Myint was also a member of the delegation.^[2]

Connection to Opium Production

Kyaw Myint is allegedly the head of the Chinese-staffed and Burma Army-supported People Militia Force (Bi Thu Sit or Ta Ka Sa Pha), an organization that oversees the production and trafficking of opium and heroin.^[3] Myint is behind the rise in opium production in Myanmar's Shan State since 2010.^[4]

References