Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Sein Win ( my, စိန်ဝင်း, ; 19 March 1919 – 29 June 1993) was a Burmese military officer who fought along with the legendary '' Thirty Comrades'' in the struggle for independence from Britain. He later held various positions in the government of Burma from 1962 to 1977 and served as

Prime Minister of Burma The prime minister of Myanmar is the head of government of Myanmar. The post was re-established in 2021 by the State Administration Council, the country's ruling military junta, to lead its nominally-civilian provisional government. The provis ...

(now Myanmar).

Early life

Sein Win was born in Danyingon, Moulmein (now

Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...

), then under British Raj Burma on 19 March 1919 as the son of Thin Myaing and Pwe Kyu. He was educated in Pyon Yin School, National Middle School, and Government High School in Tavoy (now

Dawei Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the northern bank of ...

Student activist

In 1938, he moved back from Tavoy to Moulmein to study at Shin Maha Buddhaghosa National School (now BEHS 9 Mawlamyine). The Great General Strike of 1938, known as ''Htaung thoun ya byei Ayeidawbon'' (the "Revolution of 1300" named after the

Burmese calendar The Burmese calendar ( my, မြန်မာသက္ကရာဇ်, , or , ; Burmese Era (BE) or Myanmar Era (ME)) is a lunisolar calendar in which the months are based on lunar months and years are based on sidereal years. The calendar is ...

year), saw him as one of the district committee members of student protesters at Kyaikthanan picketing the colonial government. In that year, he passed matriculation exam from Shin Maha Buddhaghosa National School and in 1940 he attended Police Officer Training in Mandalay.

Freedom fighter

After successful completion of police officer training, he worked as a cadet police officer for some time. In early 1942, he joined the Burma Independence Army (BIA) when the fifth unit of BIA led by Bo Let Ya entered Burma from Thai-Burma border. In March 1945, right before Japanese revolution, he was promoted to the rank of major by General Aung San. Under General Aung San's command, he participated in

Burma campaign 1944–45 Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Army career

He then worked in the army up to the post of the commander at the Southeastern Military Command with the rank of Brigadier General. In 1962, after

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

's military coup, he became a member of the ''

Revolutionary Council A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...

of Burma'' through which Ne Win ruled Burma.

Prime minister

In 1964, he became ''Minister for Construction and Public Work'' in Ne Win's administration. In 1971, he also chaired the Burma Socialist Programme Party's Party Inspection Committee. On 20 April 1972, Sein Win retired from army. In 1974, he became Prime Minister of the ''

Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma , conventional_long_name = Union of Burma Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma , common_name = Burma , status = , status_text = , p1 = Post-independence Burma, 1948–1962Uni ...

''. In 1977, he was blamed for the economic problems of the country and dismissed from office by President Ne Win. He then became a State Councillor of Burma, a position from which he retired in 1985.

Family

In 1943, he married Mya Shwe, daughter of Captain Ba Pe and Daw Mone. The couple had seven children, one of whom died in infancy.

References

1919 births 1993 deaths People from Mawlamyine Burma Socialist Programme Party politicians Government ministers of Myanmar Burmese military personnel Recipients of the Thiri Pyanchi {{Burma-bio-stub