SOE WIN

General 'Soe Win' (Burmese: စုိးဝင္‌း; ; born c. 1948) is the Prime Minister of Myanmar. He was appointed by the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Than Shwe on October 19, 2004 and is reported to be a close associate of the Chairman.
In March 2007, Soe Win was in a private hospital in Singapore. The government would not disclose the nature of his illness, though it was reported in the media that he was suffering from leukemia. He returned to Myanmar on May 3, 2007, but then returned to Singapore later that month. The Myanmar embassy in Singapore said he was being treated for a "serious health matter".
On May 18, 2007, Lieutenant General Thein Sein was appointed acting prime minister in Soe Win's absence.Burmese junta choose stand-in PM, BBC, retrieved 2007-05-20.Burmese Junta Tips New Prime Minister, retrieved 2007-05-20.

Contents

Biography

Early career

References

Biography

Early career

A graduate of the Defense Services Academy (12th intake), Soe Win became Tactical Operations Commander 3 of the Northwestern Regional Command in 1990. In 1997 he was named Regional Commander and a member of the junta. In November 2001 he was named Air Defense General of the War Office. In February 2003 he was promoted to Secretary-2 of the junta, which was vacant after Lieutenant General Tin Oo was killed in a helicopter crash two years before.
Before his appointment as prime minister in October 2004, Soe Win was best known for his part in the crackdown on democracy protestors in 1988, deploying troops around Rangoon University and ordering them to shoot at Rangoon General Hospital during the upheaval.
Other career landmarks include:

★ chairman of Sagaing Division Law and Order Restoration Council

★ commander of Northwest Command (1997)

★ Air Defense General in the SPDC (November 2001)

★ Secretary-2, SPDC (February 2003)

★ Secretary-1, SPDC (August 2003)
He is a senior member of the USDA and is close to Senior General Than Shwe. The two men see eye-to-eye on “nation building projects”, which include constructing dams, roads and bridges. He is widely regarded as the mastermind behind the deadly attack against National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters in the May 30, 2003 Depayin Massacre. The same year he accompanied Than Shwe on state visits to Vietnam and China. Soe Win also signed the order to dismiss Foreign Minister Win Aung and his deputy in September 2003."Premeditated Depayin Massacre", retrieved 2007-05-20.
A devout Buddhist, Soe Win upped the persecution against the predominantly Christian Chin when he was the Northwestern Regional Commander in Chin State.
With his appointment as prime minister, he was expected to take a tougher line against political reform than did his immediate predecessor, Khin Nyunt. He was quoted as saying in January 2003 "the SPDC not only won’t talk to the NLD but also would never hand over power to the NLD."

References