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Bo Ne Win (May 24,1911 - December 5, 2002), born Shu Maung was a Burmese military commander and 'strong man' of Burma from 1962 until 1988.

Early years

Ne Win, whose name was originally Shu Maung, was born into an educated middle class Chinese family in Paungdale, which was about 200 miles north of Rangoon. 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 failed his university exams and left Rangoon in 1931. He worked as a postal clerk and in the 1930s he became 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. He rose within the group, and in 1941 he was one of the so-called 'Thirty Comrades' who were chosen for military training by the Japanese forces. He was a leading member of the Burmese Independence Army (BIA). During military training at the then Japanese-occupied Hainan Island Shu Maung chose a new name, or 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.

The Japanese actions in Burma worked to alienate the nationalists as well as many Burmese. Towards the end of the Second World War, on 27 March 1945 the BIA turned against the Japanese following the British re-invasion of Burma. Ne Win, as one of the BIA Commanders, was quick to establish links with the British - attending the Kandy meeting and heading the anti-Communist operations the Pyinmana area after two Communist separate parites went undergound 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 early 1949, Ne Win was appointed chief-of-staff of the fragmented army. He rebuilt and restructured the armed forces, but the country was still split and the government was ineffective.

Serving as Dictator

Ne Win was asked to serve as interim prime minister from 27 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 and observers stated that the country did run generally well during the period known as the 'Ne Win care-taker government'. Elections were held in February 1960 and Ne Win handed back power to U Nu on 4 April 1960.

However, less than two years later on 2 March 1962 Ne Win seized power this time through a military coup d'etat. He 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 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.

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 center 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 activites against the British colonial government.

Ne Win was married on five official occasions and had at least five children from these different marriages. The 1972 death of his 'favorite' wife, Khin May Than (alias) Kitty Ba Than, was a heavy blow to him. He 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.

The efforts of Ne Win were, to put it mildly, not well-received in much of the country. His actions caused many in the educated work-force to migrate, and Burma 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.

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. By 1988 he 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 5 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.)

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. 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. However from about 1998 his 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 Kitty Ba Than) 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 5 March 2002.

Death

After being put under house arrest, the 92-year-old Ne Win died at 7:30 am (Burma Standard Time) on December 5, 2002 at his lakeside house in Yangon. His death was not a noted event world-wide and no state funeral was held nor any of the SPDC members attended the funeral. Only about twenty-five to thirty persons were said to have attended his hastily-held funeral. His daughter Sandar Win was temporarily released from house-arrest to attend the 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 also continued to remain in a Burmese jail.

• 1911 births
• 2002 deaths
• Burmese politicians
• Burmese people