Nai Thet Lwin ( my, နိုင်သက်လွင်; also Htet Lwin; born 1940) is an ethnic Mon

Myanmar 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 ...

politician who is currently the Minister of Ethnic Affairs in the government of President

Htin Kyaw Htin Kyaw ( my, ထင်ကျော်, or ; born 20 July 1946) is a Burmese politician, writer and scholar who served as the ninth president of Myanmar from 30 March 2016 to 21 March 2018. He was the first elected president to hold the off ...

Background

Thet Lwin was born to Aung Nyein and Khin Thein in

Kawkareik Township Kawkareik Township ( Phlone ; my, ကော့ကရိတ်မြို့နယ်, ; ksw, ကီၢ်ကရံၣ်ကီၢ်ဆၣ်) is a township of Kawkareik District in the Karen State of Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciati ...

Kayin State Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ...

, on 20 October 1940. He went to Moulmein College (now Mawlamyine University) and studied philosophy. He started in politics at the age of 18, joining the Mon Development Party. After graduating in 1970, he focused on teaching and preserving Mon literature and culture.

Political career

In 1988, he brought Mon politicians together in his house to form the Mon National Democratic Front, as part of the "8888" pro-democracy movement. He became vice-chairman of the MNDF, running for a seat in the Mon State capital,

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 ...

, in the 1990 election. After the 1990 election, the party was banned and he went into business, including rubber, fisheries processing, food exports and hotels. In 2011 he participated in government peace talks with the Mon National Liberation Army. He helped reestablish the party in 2012, after political parties were allowed again. In 2015 he participated in the founding of the United Nationalities Alliance, which brought together eight ethnic minority political parties in Myanmar. He called for the implementation of a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

system in Myanmar as a top priority and said a democratic system and the rule of law were "of great importance". He was appointed the Minister of Ethnic Affairs, a newly formed ministry, in 2015. Asked what his policies were, he said, simply, "I will follow LD Chairperson Daw Aung San Suu's instructions ... the country's ethnic minorities all love and trust her." He took office on 30 March 2015 as part of the first government of the country formed by the opposition

National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (Burma). It ...

(NLD) following their victory in the 2015 general election. The vice-chair of the

Mon National Party , abbreviation = MNP , colorcode = , ideology = Mon nationalismFederalism , headquarters = No 181, Yazadarid Road, Myaingtharyar Ward, Mawlamyine Township, Mon State, Myanmar , international = , website = , merged = Mon Unity Party , ...

, he was one of only three ministers appointed to cabinet from a party other than the ruling NLD.

Family

He is married to Kyin Than and has four children, Mahn Banya San, Mi Kon Chan, Mahn Lagun Ein, and Man Banya Aung Htun. His daughter, Mi Kon Chan, was elected an MP for the NLD for Paung Township in the 2015 election.

References

{{Reflist Government ministers of Myanmar Living people 1940 births Mon National Party politicians Burmese people of Mon descent