Saw Maung ( my, စောမောင်, ; 5 December 1928 – 24 July 1997) was a Burmese

army general Army general is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System.　 In countries that adopt the general officer four rank system, it is rank of general commanding an army in the field, but in coun ...

and statesman who served as Chairman of the

State Law and Order Restoration Council State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our ...

(SLORC) in

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 ...

and

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 p ...

from 1988 to 1992. Beside this, he was the 8th Commander-in-Chief of the Tatmadaw. He is the first one to get the rank of

Senior General Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

which was created for him in 1990.

Early life and career

He was born on 5 December 1928 in

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fou ...

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. Saw Maung joined the army in 1945, three years before the country gained

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

from Britain, and received a commission in 1952. From 1974 to 1976, he fought against communist insurgents and ethnic rebels along the border with Thailand. In 1976, he became a

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 appointe ...

, and in 1981 an

adjutant-general An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

. He became armed forces commander in 1983. Saw Maung was army

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

and

defence 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 s ...

in the brief government of Sein Lwin and became chairman of the

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by a ...

when the army staged its coup in 1988 after the

8888 Uprising The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power UprisingYawnghwe (1995), pp. 170 and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) th ...

. He was effective ruler of the country as head of the

(SLORC). He also held the posts of prime minister and

minister of foreign affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

. As a high-ranking member of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), he provided continuity of leadership during a succession of short-lived predecessors that followed the toppling of

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 ...

earlier in 1988.

Chairman of SLORC

Saw Maung assumed responsibility as chairman of the newly formed SLORC on 18 September 1988, replacing the BSPP and promised multi-party elections to follow soon. He publicly stated that he would hand over power to the winning party and would have the army return to the barracks; where in his own words they "rightfully belonged". This proved to be too much for hardliners in the military and loyalists of

. SLORC held free elections in 1990. The 1990 parliamentary elections were won by 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 ...

(NLD) led by

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...

, but SLORC did not accept the results in a clear sign of Saw Maung's authority being undermined. Saw Maung resigned as chairman of SLORC in April 1992. According to the junta this was for health reasons. However, this was the result of Saw Maung being sedated, isolated and quietly removed from power in a palace coup, after which it was widely reported that Saw Maung was actually suffering from a nervous breakdown and believed himself to be the reincarnation of an 11th-century warrior-king. This was in fact a plot by his successor General

Than Shwe Than Shwe ( my, သန်းရွှေ, ; born 2 February 1933 or 3 May 1935) is a Burmese strongman politician who was the head of state of Myanmar from 1992 to 2011 as Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). During thi ...

and other hardliners to justify the takeover and cement his control. Some believe that Saw Maung's decision to hand over power to

was too much for other generals who also had the consent from Ne Win to carry out the palace coup. Saw Maung died of a heart attack at 69 on 24 July 1997.

Family and personal life

He married Daw Aye Yee who died on 25 December 2004. He is succeeded by his three children; two sons and a daughter, and three grandchildren. Saw Maung was also a golfer and a devout Buddhist.

References

Burma Library Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saw Maung 1928 births 1997 deaths Foreign ministers of Myanmar Defence ministers of Myanmar Government ministers of Myanmar People from Mandalay Burma Socialist Programme Party politicians Leaders who took power by coup Burmese Buddhists Recipients of the Alinkar Kyawswar