Myint Swe (general)

Myint Swe
မြင့်ဆွေ
First Vice President of Myanmar
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 March 2016
President	Htin Kyaw
Preceded by	Sai Mauk Kham
Chief Minister of Yangon Region
In office 30 March 2011 – 30 March 2016
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Phyo Min Thein
Personal details
Born	24 May 1951 or 24 June 1951 Mandalay, Burma
Political party	Union Solidarity and Development Party
Spouse(s)	Khin Thet Htay
Children	2
Alma mater	Defence Services Academy
Religion	Theravada Buddhism
Military service
Allegiance	Myanmar
Service/branch	Myanmar Army
Years of service	1971–2010
Rank	Lieutenant General

Myint Swe (Burmese: မြင့်ဆွေ; pronounced: [mjɪ̰ɴ sʰwè]; born 24 June 1951^[1]) is a Burmese politician and First Vice President of the Republic of Union of Myanmar (Burma). He has served as Chief Minister of Yangon Region from 30 March 2011 to 30 March 2016. On 30 March 2016, he was sworn in as the Vice President of Myanmar. He is an ethnic Mon ex-military officer.^[2][3]

Military career

He graduated from the Defence Services Academy in 1971 as part of the 15th intake.^[4] He became a Brigadier General and commander of Light Infantry Division 11 in 1997. He was appointed as Commander of Southeastern Command and member of State Peace and Development Council in 2001. He was transferred as Commander of Yangon Command and promoted to Major General. He also acted as Chairman of Yangon Division Peace and Development Council.

He became the Chief of Military Security Affairs after Khin Nyunt was purged in 2004.^[5] He became Chief of Bureau of Special Operations - 5 (BSO-5) in January 2006. He is the first ethnic Mon to be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 2005.^[1] He was promoted to Quartermaster General and was rumored to be the next in line to replace Maung Aye in 2009.^[4][6]

He executed 3 major events while he was commanding the Yangon Command, arresting family members of Ne Win in 2002 after an alleged coup conspiracy was uncovered, arresting Khin Nyunt and his associates in 2004 in the purge of the Military Intelligence faction and crushing the Saffron Revolution in 2007. His actions after Cyclone Nargis was criticized. He dealt with activists harshly in the pre-2010 general election period.^[6]

Political career

Chief Minister of Yangon Region

He is nominated as chief-minister of the Yangon Region after general election by President Thein Sein. He was tipped to be nominated to become Vice President of Burma after Tin Aung Myint Oo's resignation in 2012, but did not qualify per the Constitution of Burma, as one of his sons is an Australian citizen.^[7]

Vice Presidency

On 11 March 2016, military-appointed MPs of the Assembly of the Union nominated him as one of the Vice Presidents of Myanmar. He received 213 votes on 15 March 2016 and became First Vice President of Htin Kyaw's Cabinet.^[8] He was sworn in on 30 March 2016.

References

1. "Lt Gen Myint Swe". Alternative Asean Network on Burma. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
2. 12.3.16.pdf "ဒုသမ္မတအဖြစ် ရွေးချယ်တင်မြှောက်ခံရသူတို့၏ ကိုယ်ရေးအချက်အလက် အကျဉ်း" Check |url= value (help) (PDF). Myanmar Ahlin. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
3. "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK". Her Majesty's Treasury. UK Government. 20 April 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
4. Lwin, Min (2008-06-27). "Lt-Gen Myint Swe: Future No 2?". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
5. "MYINT SWE". http://www.altsean.org. Retrieved 14 July 2014. External link in |website= (help)
6. "Myint Swe Nominated as New Vice-President (10 July 2012)". http://www.irrawaddy.org. Retrieved 14 July 2014. External link in |website= (help)
7. "Myint Swe’s VP Bid Postponed". The Irrawaddy. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
8. "Myanmar military picks hardliner Myint Swe to work with Suu Kyi’s proxy president". South China Morning Post. 11 March 2016.