Ne Win
Ne Win was a Burmese general and politician who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and again from 1962 to 1974. He was also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma period of 1962 to 1988.
Ne Win founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party and overthrew the democratic Union Parliament of U Nu in the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, establishing Burma as a one-party socialist state under the Burmese Way to Socialism ideology. Ne Win was Burma's de facto leader as chairman of the BSPP, serving in various official titles as part of his military government, and was known by his supporters as U Ne Win. His rule was characterized by a non-aligned foreign policy, isolationism, one-party rule, economic stagnation, and superstition. Ne Win resigned in July 1988 in response to the 8888 Uprising that overthrew the Burma Socialist Programme Party, and was replaced by the military junta of the State Law and Order Restoration Council. He held minor influence in the 1990s but was eventually placed under house arrest, under which he died in 2002. There was no state funeral, public eulogy or monument in his memory.
In foreign affairs, Ne Win followed a strictly neutralist policy during the Cold War, participating in the Non-Aligned Movement and keeping his distance from both the United States and the Soviet Union. On the other hand, his relations with Mao Zedong and the People's Republic of China were initially excellent, but were temporarily broken between 1967 and 1971, due to Mao's covert support for the Communist insurgency within Burma and the outbreak of anti-Chinese riots by regime supporters; however, in March 1971 relations were fully restored and Chinese economic aid continued.
Date of birth
Ne Win's date of birth is a subject of debate among various sources. The English-language publication Who's Who in Burma, published in 1961 by People's Literature House, Rangoon, lists Ne Win's birthdate as 14 May 1911. This date is also supported by Dr. Maung Maung in the Burmese version of his book Burma and General Ne Win, also published in English, that Ne Win was born on 14 May 1911. However, in a book written in Burmese titled The Thirty Comrades, the author Kyaw Nyein gave Ne Win's date of birth as 10 July 1910. While 24 May 1911 is widely cited as Ne Win's birthdate in many scholarly works and biographical references, the discrepancies among sources warrant acknowledgment. These conflicting accounts highlight the challenges in determining Ne Win's exact birthdate and may stem from differences in historical documentation or cultural interpretations. Therefore, while 24 May 1911 is commonly accepted, alternative dates cannot be disregarded entirely.File:David Ben Gurion - General Ne Win PM of Burma 1959.jpg|thumb|David Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister of Israel and General Ne Win as Prime Minister of Burma on 8 June 1959
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.. In his book published around 1998, Kyaw Nyein lists the names of the surviving members of the Thirty Comrades whom he had interviewed, although Ne Win was not mentioned among them. Secondly, when Ne Win died on 5 December 2002, the Burmese language newspapers that were allowed to carry a paid obituary stated the age of 'U Ne Win' to be '93 years'. According to Burmese custom, a person's age is their age upon their next birthday. 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 May 1911 birth date, reported that Ne Win was 91 years old, but the obituary put up by his family stated that he was 93 years old, which most likely stems from East Asian age reckoning.
Early life and struggle for independence
Ne Win, born Shu Maung, was born into an ethnic Burman family in a small village near Paungdale about north of Rangoon. Research by renowned Burma scholar Robert Taylor finds rumors of Ne Win having full or partial Chinese ancestry unsubstantiated. His family and colleagues have repeatedly denied Ne Win had any Chinese ancestry. He spent two years at Rangoon University beginning in 1929, and took biology as his main subject with hopes of becoming a doctor. In 1931 he was expelled from the university after he failed an exam. Ne Win eventually became "Thakin Shu Maung", or a member of the nationalist organisation Dobama Asiayone. Other members of the group included Aung San and U Nu. In 1941 Ne Win, as a member of the Ba Sein-Tun Ok faction of the Dobama, was one of thirty young men chosen for military training by the Japanese operative Colonel Suzuki Keiji. Their leader was Aung San and they formed the Burma Independence Army. During military training, Shu Maung chose a nom de guerre, Bo Ne Win. In early 1942 the Japanese Army and the BIA entered Burma in the wake of the retreating British forces. Ne Win's role in the campaign was to organize resistance behind the British lines.The experience of the Japanese occupation of Burma worked to alienate the nationalists as well as the population at large. Toward the end of the Second World War, on 27 March 1945 the Burma National Army 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 conference in Ceylon and taking charge of the anti-Communist operations in the Pyinmana area as commander of the 4th Burma Rifles after the Red Flag Communists and the Communist Party of Burma went underground to fight against the government in October 1946 and on 28 March 1948 respectively. Burma obtained independence on 4 January 1948, and for the first 14 years it had a parliamentary and democratic government mainly under Prime Minister U Nu, but the country was riven with political division. Even before independence, Aung San was assassinated together with six of his cabinet members on 19 July 1947; U Saw, a pre-war prime minister and political rival of Aung San, was found guilty of the crime and executed. U Nu as leader of the Socialists took charge of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League formed by the Communists, Socialists and the BNA in 1945 now that Aung San was dead and the Communists expelled from the AFPFL.
Post-independence civil war
Following independence there were uprisings in the army and among ethnic minority groups. In late 1948, after a confrontation between army rivals, Ne Win was appointed second in command of the army and his rival Bo Zeya, a communist commander and fellow member of the Thirty Comrades, took a portion of the army into rebellion. Ne Win immediately adopted a policy of creating Socialist militia battalions called 'Sitwundan' under his personal command with the approval of U Nu. On 31 January 1949, Ne Win was appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and given total control of the army, replacing General Smith Dun, an ethnic Karen. He rebuilt and restructured the armed forces along the ruling Socialist Party's political lines, but the country was still split and the government was ineffective. He was Minister of Defense from April 1949 to September 1950.Interim prime minister
He was asked to serve as interim prime minister from 28 October 1958 by U Nu, when the AFPFL split into two factions 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 caretaker government". Elections were held in February 1960 and Ne Win handed back power to the victorious U Nu on 4 April 1960.Military coup of 1962
On 2 March 1962, Ne Win again seized power in a coup d'état. He became head of state as Chairman of the Union Revolutionary Council and also Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. The coup was characterized as "bloodless" by the world's media. Declaring that "parliamentary democracy was not suitable for Burma," the new regime suspended the constitution and dissolved the legislature.Following riots at Rangoon University in July 1962, troops were sent to restore order. They fired on protesters and destroyed the student union building.
Shortly afterward, around 8 pm local time, Ne Win addressed the nation in a five-minute radio speech which concluded with the statement: "If these disturbances were made to challenge us, I have to declare that we will fight sword with sword and spear with spear". On 13 July 1962, less than a week after the speech, Ne Win left for Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom "for a medical check up". All universities were closed for more than two years until September 1964.
In 1988, 26 years later, Ne Win denied involvement in the dynamiting of the Student Union building, stating that his deputy Brigadier Aung Gyi – who by that time had fallen out with Ne Win and been dismissed – had given the order and that he had to take responsibility as a "revolutionary leader" by giving the sword with sword and spear with spear speech.
Burmese Way to Socialism (1962–1988)
Ne Win oversaw a number of reforms after taking power. The administration instituted a system including elements of nationalism, Marxism, and Buddhism, though Ne Win lacked interest in either ideology or religion – terming this the Burmese Way to Socialism. He founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which in 1964 was formally declared to be the only legal party.Following the 1962 coup, Ne Win's government began implementing policies highlighting the centrality of Burmese language, Burmese culture, and Burmese Buddhism to the unity of the country. Such policies focused on the school curriuculum, military recruitment, and the advancement of Burmese-centric popular culture. Ethnic schools and hospitals were nationalized, and new staff assigned from Rangoon. When ethnic minority areas did not comply, the communities were attacked by the military. Collectively these policies later became known as General Ne Win's "Burmanization" policies.
A system of state hospitals and institutions was established in Burma; medical care was free. Private hospitals were brought under public ownership. A new system of public education was introduced. A campaign to liquidate illiteracy was carried out starting in 1965. Between 1962 and 1965 important laws against landlords and usury were adopted. They aimed at protecting peasants' rights to land and property and to renting the land. These measures included the law abolishing rents on land.
On 2 March 1974, he disbanded the Revolutionary Council and proclaimed the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. He was elected president of Myanmar and shortly afterward appointed Brigadier General Sein Win as Prime Minister. On 9 November 1981, Ne Win resigned as president and was succeeded in that post by General San Yu. However, Ne Win remained leader of the party and thus remained the ultimate political authority in the land until his resignation in 1988.