Bo Ne Win

Early life and struggle for independence

Ne Win, born Shu Maung, was born into an ethnic Burman family in a small village near Paungdale about 200 miles (320 km) north of Rangoon. Research by renowned Burma scholar Robert Taylor finds rumors of Ne Win having full or partial Chinese ancestry unsubstantiated. His family and colleagues have repeatedly denied Ne Win had any Chinese ancestry. He spent two years at Rangoon University beginning in 1929, and took biology as his main subject with hopes of becoming a doctor. In 1931 he was expelled from the university after he failed an exam. Ne Win eventually became "Thakin Shu Maung", or a member of the nationalist organisation Dobama Asiayone (We Burmans Association). Other members of the group included Aung San and U Nu. In 1941 Ne Win, as a member of the Ba Sein-Tun Ok (Socialist) faction of the Dobama, was one of thirty young men chosen for military training by the Japanese operative Colonel Suzuki Keiji. Their leader was Aung San and they formed the Burma Independence Army (BIA). During military training, Shu Maung chose a nom de guerre, Bo Ne Win (Commander Radiant Sun). In early 1942 the Japanese Army and the BIA entered Burma in the wake of the retreating British forces. Ne Win's role in the campaign was to organize resistance behind the British lines.