Than Shwe

Than Shwe (born February 2, 1933, Kyaukse, Burma [now Myanmar]) was a Myanmar soldier and politician, leader of the ruling military junta in Myanmar (Burma) from 1992 to 2011.

Than Shwe worked as a postal clerk before joining the army in 1953. For the rest of the decade, he served in the army’s psychological warfare department and participated in counterinsurgency operations against guerrillas of the minority Karen ethnic group. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1960. Shortly after the military seized power in Burma in a coup d’état in 1962, Than was appointed an instructor at the Central Institute of Political Science. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1978 and was named commander of the 88th Light Infantry Division in 1980. He was later appointed chairman of the regional committee of the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP), the sole legal political party in the country. After a pro-democracy uprising in the country was crushed in 1988, U Ne Win, Burma’s military dictator, resigned as chairman of the BSPP, which was replaced by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), headed by Gen. Saw Maung. Than Shwe survived a series of internal purges and in 1992 replaced Saw Maung as chairman of the SLORC, effectively becoming head of state and government.

When Than Shwe took power, it was widely believed that he would be more moderate than his predecessors. Nevertheless, the democratic reforms that many in Myanmar hoped for never took place. Than Shwe consistently refused to enter into discussions with the leader of the country’s pro-democracy faction, Aung San Suu Kyi, who had been under house arrest since July 1989. (She remained under house arrest until 1995 and thereafter was periodically detained.) In 1997 Than Shwe changed the name of the SLORC to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). His regime sought to quell internal revolts by Myanmar’s various ethnic groups, entering into peace agreements or cease-fires with many of the ethnic militias that were fighting for independence. Starting in 2004 Than Shwe oversaw the construction of the inland city of Nay Pyi Taw, which he proclaimed as the country’s new capital in 2006.

Than Shwe regularly attended Myanmar’s annual army parade but was otherwise rarely seen in public. In 2007, rumours of his failing health began to circulate when he traveled to Singapore for treatment of an undisclosed illness before returning to Myanmar. Despite the state of his health, Than Shwe retained control of the SPDC and oversaw the ratification of a new national constitution in 2008 and parliamentary elections in 2010. In March 2011, after the new legislature convened, he formally disbanded the SPDC and relinquished his position as head of state and government. He also stepped down from the military (thus acquiring the U prefix on his name), but it was unclear to what extent he might have retained behind-the-scenes control in the new government.