NE WIN
NE WIN (ex-General) -
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NE WIN |
Burma’s aged strong man (who renounced
his military title in 1972) has dominated Burma and the Burma Army (Tatmadaw)
for decades. In 1988 Ne Win’s ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party, faced
with economic crisis and mounting public disaffection following deaths and arrests
of student protestors, convened a special BSPP congress. At its opening session
on July 23, Ne Win called for a national referendum to be held on adopting a
multi-party system and announced his resignation as Party Chairman. The prospect
of real change after years of authoritarian one-party socialist rule triggered
mass demonstrations. But Ne Win’s speech contained a chilling warning:
"I
want the entire nation, the people, to know
that if the army shoots, it hits - there is no firing
into the air to scare."
SEIN LWIN (ex-brigadier)
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| SEIN LWIN |
His succession to Ne Win as BSPP Chairman
on July 26 (and to San Yu as President of Burma on July 27), inflamed tensions
and popular discontent. Sein Lwin, as commander of the security forces’
riot police (Lon Htein) was held responsible for past crackdowns on student
protest, most notably in March 1988. On March 16, following the killing of two
students three days earlier, students marching down Prome Road were confronted
near Inya Lake’s "white bridge" by the riot police and many beaten
to death and others reportedly drowned by police forcing their heads under the
waters of the lake. On March 17, soldiers and riot police entered Rangoon University
campus and arrested hundreds of students, some of whom suffered serious abuse
in custody. Forty-one students who were locked into a police van died of suffocation.
As news of these dreadful events spread, public unrest grew into mass demonstrations
throughout the country and a general strike was called for August 8 1988. Sein
Lwin, a hardline military man, carried out the threat contained in Ne Win’s
resignation speech. Late at night on 8-8-88 army troops opened fire on groups
of unarmed demonstrators in Rangoon, killing and wounding many hundreds. Throughout
the country, street protests continued for days and were met with more shootings
and arrests, until Sein Lwin, after 18 days in power, resigned on August 12.
DR MAUNG MAUNG
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DR MAUNG MAUNG |
A civilian and former Chief Justice,
succeeded Sein Lwin as President and BSPP Chairman on August 19. In a conciliatory
speech to the nation broadcast on August 24, Maung Maung conceded past errors,
announced the lifting of martial law (imposed August 3) and the release of detainees,
promised a shortened consultation period and multi-party elections. But Maung
Maung, a long-term loyal associate of Ne Win and the BSPP, was not trusted by
the public who regarded him as a puppet dancing to military strings. His stop-gap
appointment as President did not mollify the demonstrators, although some leading
figures and intellectuals were emboldened to write open letters of appeal for
restraint to him. As protests, strikes and demands for an interim government
escalated, the military tookover on September 18 1988, establishing the State
Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC), headed by Army Chief of Staff,
General Saw Maung.
SAW
MAUNG, Senior General -
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GENERAL MAUNG |
Head of the SLORC until replaced by General Than Shwe in 1992. On September 19 1988 General Saw Maung justified the army’s actions as necessary to save the country from anarchy, stating:
"The
Tatmadaw has had to unavoidably assume
the duties of State as it saw that the situation in
the nation would get even worse in the future."
In
an address to the nation on September 23 1988, General Saw Maung declared that
the SLORC was not interested in holding onto power for long, promised elections
and
pledged that:
"Our
Tatmadaw on its part would continue to
carry out the original duty of national defense
and security and the maintenance of law
and order after handing over power to the
government which emerges in the free and fair
general elections in which the citizens of the
nation would be able to exercise their full
democratic rights."
General
Saw Maung, a prolific, rambling speechifier, was relieved of his duties in 1992.
A multi-volume edition of his speeches, published in 1990, was billed in the
government Working People’s Daily newspaper as "a milestone in Myanmar
political history... [his] words and comments scintillate as the constellations
in the sky".
AUNG
GYI (ex-Brigadier-General) -
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AUNG GYI |
A leading member of Ne Win’s Caretaker
Government (1958-60) and Revolutionary Council until ousted in 1963; imprisoned
from 1965-68 and 1973-74. In May and early June 1988, he wrote several letters
to Ne Win and to his former Revolutionary Council colleagues, criticizing Burma’s
disastrous economy and human rights abuses. He described in detail the brutality
used against students in March - particularly the infamous events at Inya Lake’s
‘white bridge’ - and called for a proper commission of enquiry and
for reform. Arrested (together with nine other retired army officers) on July
29 1988, he was released on August 25, and that same day addressed a 50,000
strong rally in Sangyaung township,
telling them:
"All
those who engage in the fight for
democracy, please do so with discipline and
order. Look at the present situation. If things
continue like this, Burma will become a
leaderless nation, out of control. The army’s
100,000 troops, however many bullets are fired,
cannot restrain a leaderless nation. What do
we want right now? Democracy, democracy, democracy."
Aung Gyi briefly served as Chairman
of the National League for Democracy before establishing his own Union Nationals
Democratic Party (UNDP) in December 1988. In 1994 he withdrew from politics
to concentrate on commerce.
TIN
OO [TIN U] (ex-General) -
A former Chief of Staff and Defense Minister (1974-76), until arrested and imprisoned on charges of prior knowledge of a coup attempt; released under Ne Win’s 1980 political amnesty, he became a monk for two years and then studied for a law degree. In August 1988 he emerged as a prominent senior figure supporting the pro-democracy movement. In a speech delivered on August 27 in front of the Rangoon General Hospital, Tin Oo spoke of the army’s duty to the people:
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Tin Oo became Deputy Chairman of the
National League for Democracy in September 1988 and its Chairman in December
1988. Arrested in July 1989, he was sentenced in December 1989 to three years’
imprisonment, and in February 1992 to a further seven years’ term, from
which he was released in 1995.
u NU -
Veteran politician and first
prime minister of independent Burma (until ousted and imprisoned by Ne Win’s
1962 military coup), Nu returned to the political stage in 1988, declaring Ne
Win’s regime illegitimate. On August 28 he set up a (provisional) League
for Democracy and Peace and on September 9 suddenly proclaimed a parallel government
with himself as prime minister, but his actions were divisive and, although
accorded much respect, he lacked popular support. An ardent advocate of democracy,
his 1960 "Democracy Fire" speech was a much-quoted source of inspiration
in the 1988 free press:
"There
is in this world no alternative to the path
to democracy. Throughout history human beings
have striven for the great prize of democracy.
Despite oppression and torture, the desire for
democracy cannot be quenched and can only
become a stronger, brighter flame. No
dictatorship, however harsh, however cruel,
can extinguish this blazing fire."
U Nu was placed under house arrest
from 1989 to 1992.
AUNG SAN SUU KYI -
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Aung San Suu Kyi |
Daughter of Burma’s national hero, General Aung San, Aung San Suu Kyi has always been dedicated to her father’s memory and his vision of a free and democratic Burma. After living in Oxford for many years, she returned to Burma in April 1988 to nurse her mother who had suffered a stroke. As the dramatic events of 1988 gathered pace and unarmed students and demonstrators fell to army bullets and bayonets, Aung San Suu Kyi could no longer stay silent. Addressing a huge public rally at the Shwe Dagon on August 26, she read out General Aung San’s objectives for the Burma Army:
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The
armed forces are meant for this nation and She then stated: "In
order to get democracy all the people must |
"Those who want democracy must fight with their hearts; those who oppose democracy fight with guns" U NU |
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MIN KO NAING |
