Khin Nyunt

Khin Nyunt

General Khin Nyunt ( Burmese ခင် ညွ န့ ်) (born October 11, 1939 in Kyauktan, Yangon Division , Burma) is an officer and politician in Myanmar . He was the head of the military intelligence service and from August 25, 2003 to October 18, 2004, Prime Minister of the country. He is considered to be the initiator of ceasefire negotiations and treaties between the military regime and various ethnic armed movements, e.g. B. with the United Wa State Army and the Kachin Independent Army .

Life

After a career in the military, Khin Nyunt was ordered back to Rangoon in 1984 . There, North Korean terrorists carried out an attack on a South Korean government delegation in the capital, in which several people were killed. Khin Nyunt was then appointed to head the military intelligence service.

After the bloody suppression of the uprisings in August 1988 , in which Khin Nyunt was significantly involved, the military established the State Council for the Restoration of Law and Order (SLORC), in German for "State Council for the Restoration of Law and Order". Khin Nyunt became its first secretary, a function which he also retained after the name of the SLORC was changed to SPDC ( State Council for Peace and Development ) on November 15, 1997. With the appointment as Prime Minister he had to relinquish this post to Lieutenant General Soe Win .

Term of office as prime minister

Shortly after taking office, the new Prime Minister presented a 7-point roadmap for restoring democracy. However, this timetable was criticized both by the Myanmar opposition at home and abroad as well as by many foreign states as inadequate, as it tried, on the one hand, to lay down the cornerstones laid down in the constituent assembly in 1996, in particular the participation of the military in government , and on the other hand did not contain any time horizon.

The first step in the 7-point plan, the reconstitution of the National Assembly, suspended in 1996, to draft a constitution, took place on May 17, 2004 in view of increasing pressure from abroad.

The National Assembly was suspended indefinitely after only two months of meeting on a military site outside of Rangoon that was closed to the public.

The support for his own "roadmap for restoring democracy" can be seen in the fact that neither Prime Minister Khin Nyunt nor de facto head of state Than Shwe attended the opening ceremony of the National Assembly.

Since his appointment as Prime Minister, there has been constant speculation about the actual role of Khin Nyunt. Khin Nyunt was regarded within the military junta as a moderate pragmatist who recognized the need for dialogue with the democratic opposition. In contrast, the chairman of the SPDC, Than Shwe, and his deputy, General Maung Aye , number 2 in the state, are considered hardliners and opponents of the democratization of Myanmar.

In contrast to democratic systems, the office of prime minister has only limited powers. In addition, as the leader of the dreaded secret service, Khin Nyunt could only count on little support in his own country, whereas members of the armed forces have a broad base. On the other hand, Khin Nyunt is considered a pupil of General Ne Wins , who until his internment in 2002 still exercised significant influence on politics in the country, and was thus able to consolidate his power under his patronage.

Removal from Prime Minister

On the evening of October 18, 2004, Khin Nyunt was deposed as Prime Minister by the junta on suspicion of corruption and placed under house arrest. In the opinion of the observers, this was the result of a planned neutralization of the unloved pragmatist. The official justification that he resigned from office "for health reasons" is a euphemism to hide the real reasons for removing an official. After the foreign minister Win Aung , who was considered a close ally , had been removed from his post a month earlier, on September 18, the hawks had finally prevailed within the regime.

With the replacement of the post of prime minister by Lieutenant General Soe Win , who was considered loyal to the head of state , the top management presented itself as one. The prospect of rapprochement with the democratic opposition had faded.

In the country, the dismissal of Khin Nyunt was received with relief, as this also meant the end of the work of the unloved secret service, which was disbanded in the weeks that followed.

family

Khin Nyunt is with the doctor Dr. Daw Khin Win Shwe (born October 6, 1940) married, who held various offices in state institutions for women's issues. Most recently she was chairwoman of the state “Myanmar Women's Affairs Federation”, an office traditionally entrusted to the Prime Minister's wife.

Khin Nyunt and Dr. Khin Win Shwe have a daughter, Thin Le Le Win, and two sons, Lieutenant Colonel Zaw Naing Oo and businessman Dr. Ye Naing Win, who ran the Bagan Cybertech Internet portal until Khin Nyunt was overthrown . The latter was publicly disinherited by the parents in 1998 - through an advertisement in the state paper The New Light of Myanmar - allegedly because of his marriage to a Singaporean woman.

fate

Khin Nyunt shortly after his release from house arrest (2012)

For a long time, there was only speculation about the fate of Khin Nyunt and his family members after his fall. On July 5, 2005, he was brought before a special tribunal in the notorious Insein Prison in Rangoon. Previously, he had apparently been under house arrest. The court sentenced Khin Nyunt to 44 years probation on July 21, 2005, on a total of eight charges, including corruption charges. On the same day, the sentences against his sons Zaw Naing Oo and Dr. Ye Naing Win announced. In contrast to their father, they received significantly higher prison terms of 68 and 51 years, respectively. In April 2005, his son-in-law Tin Htut was convicted of economic crimes. Whether Dr. Daw Khin Win Shwe was held accountable is unclear. It only seems certain that she followed her husband to Insein prison. According to news from the exile organization “The Irrawaddy”, Khin Nyunt and his wife and other family members were under house arrest in Rangoon, but in March 2008 it was allegedly relaxed.

In January 2012, Khin Nyunt was released from house arrest. This went hand in hand with the release of nearly 600 political prisoners.

Web links

• We Restored Order - Asiaweek interview with Khin Nyunt from 1999
• Short biography

swell

1. ↑ The Irrawaddy: Detained former PM Khin Nyunt Allowed Visitors
2. ^ The Irrawaddy: House Arrest of Deposed Prime Minister Relaxed
3. ↑ Amnesty for 651 prisoners: Burma releases political prisoners from wienerzeitung.at, January 13, 2012 (accessed on January 13, 2012).