Yee Mon ( my, ရည်မွန်; also known as Maung Tin Thit or Tin Thit; born 9 August 1967) is a Burmese poet, former

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their politics, political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, al ...

, and politician currently serving as Minister of Defense of

National Unity Government of Myanmar The National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar ( my, အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရ; abbreviated NUG) is a Myanmar government in exile formed by the Committee Representing Pyidau ...

.Thomas Fuller
A Poet's Election Victory Over a Former General Speaks of a New Myanmar
, ''New York Times'' (November 14, 2015). Yee Mon attended the medical school ( University of Medicine, Mandalay) in 1984. During the pro-democracy uprising of 1988 against the military junta that ruled Burma he participated in the protests, and was imprisoned by the regime for seven years. Yee Mon / Maung Tin Thit later worked as an environmental activist. In the 2015 general election, Tin Thit successfully ran as a candidate for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

with the

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 ...

in a district in the national capital of

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city ou ...

. Tin Thit received 27,321 votes, narrowly defeating U Wai Lwin, a powerful former military general who had been

defense minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

until a few months before the elections. Tin Thit's victory was viewed as a surprise because the district has more than 7,000 soldiers and 2,000 police officers, who were seen as likely to favor an ex-general. His discussion in the Myanmar

(2015-2020) to amend the National Constitution has been considered as a notable step to peacefully remove the Military from inappropriate involvement in Myanmar politics and re-establish as a proper professional army for national defense. U Yee MonArchive
April 20, 2022

Notes

{{authority control Living people 1967 births Burmese democracy activists Burmese male poets National League for Democracy politicians Burmese prisoners and detainees