Ne Win

This article is about the president of Burma. For the Thai politician, see Newin Chidchob. For other uses, see Ne Win (disambiguation).
In this Burmese name, the given name is Ne Win. There is no family name.

His Excellency[1]
Agga Maha Thray Sithu[2]
General
Ne Win
နေဝင်း
Ne Win in 1959
Chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party
In office
4 July 1962 – 23 July 1988
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded bySein Lwin
4th President of Burma
In office
2 March 1974 – 9 November 1981
Preceded byWin Maung (1962)
Succeeded bySan Yu
Chairman of the Union Revolutionary Council
In office
2 March 1962 – 2 March 1974
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Prime Minister of Burma
In office
29 October 1958 – 4 April 1960
PresidentWin Maung
Preceded byU Nu
Succeeded byU Nu
In office
2 March 1962 – 2 March 1974
Preceded byU Nu
Succeeded bySein Win
Personal details
Born
Shu Maung[3]

(1911-05-24)24 May 1911[4]
Paungdale, Pegu Province, Lower Burma, British India (present-day Myanmar)
Died5 December 2002(2002-12-05) (aged 92)[5]
Yangon, Union of Myanmar
Resting placeAshes scattered into Yangon River
NationalityBurmese
Political partyBurma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP)
Spouses5, including Yadana Nat Mei
Children6, including Sandar Win
Alma materRangoon University
Occupation
  • General
  • politician
Signature
Military service
Allegiance Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma
Branch/service Myanmar Army
Years of service1931–1974
Rank General
Battles/warsSecond World War

Ne Win (Burmese: နေဝင်း; IPA: [nè wɪ́ɰ̃]; 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002),[6] born Shu Maung (Burmese: ရှူမောင်; IPA: [/ʃù màʊ̃̀/]), was a Burmese army general and politician who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981.[7][8][9] Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Burma period of 1962 to 1988.[a]

Ne Win founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) 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.[10] 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.[b][3][11] His rule was characterized by a non-aligned foreign policy, isolationism, one-party rule, economic stagnation, and superstition.[12] 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 (SLORC). He held minor influence in the 1990s but was eventually placed under house arrest, under which he died in 2002.[13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

  1. ^ Letter from Premier Zhou Enlai to His Excellency Ne Win
  2. ^ General Ne Win, the first military general who led the 1962 coup, was posthumously named Agga Maha Thray Sithu, the second-highest honor. Former military leader Than Shwe, who picked Min Aung Hlaing as his successor as commander-in-chief, was given the same title.
  3. ^ a b "U Ne Win". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Ne Win (Shu Maung), Burmese military strongman, born May 24 1911; died December 5 2002".
  5. ^ Pace, Eric (6 December 2002). "Ne Win, Ex-Burmese Military Strongman, Dies at 81". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "U Ne Win (born May 24, 1911, Paungdale, Burma [Myanmar]—died December 5, 2002, Yangon, Myanmar) was a Burmese general who was the leader of Burma (now Myanmar) from 1962 to 1988". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 March 2024.
  7. ^ "U Ne Win | Myanmar general and dictator". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  8. ^ C. P. Cook (June 1970). "Burma: The Era of Ne Win". The World Today. 26 (6): 259–266. JSTOR 40394388.
  9. ^ Frank Milne (23 November 2015). "Review of General Ne Win: A Political Biography". New Mandala.
  10. ^ Lindsay Maizland (31 January 2022). "Myanmar has been ruled by a military junta for many of the years since it gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948. The Union of Burma began as a parliamentary democracy, like most of its newly independent neighbors on the Indian subcontinent. But representative democracy only lasted until 1962, when General Ne Win led a military coup and held power for the next twenty-six years". Council on Foreign Relations.
  11. ^ "U Ne Win". Biography.com. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  12. ^ Taylor 2015, p. 67.
  13. ^ "Ne Win: Understanding the 'old man'". Frontier Myanmar. 14 January 2016. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  14. ^ Yawnghwe 1990, p. 45-47.
  15. ^ Ne Win Military Rule – Neutralism and Seclusion Archived 16 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine Globalsecurity.org


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