Than Htay (; born 12 November 1954) is a Burmese politician who served as Chairman of the

Union Solidarity and Development Party The Union Solidarity and Development Party (; abbr. USDP) is an ultranationalist, pro-military political party in Myanmar. Alongside the National League for Democracy, it is one of Myanmar's two principal national parties. USDP is the succe ...

from August 2016 to September 2022 due to medical treatment. He previously served as the Minister for Rail Transportation, and Minister for Energy. He is a retired brigadier general in the

Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army (; ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar, and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southea ...

Early life

Than Htay was born on 12 November 1954 in

Ayeyarwady Region Ayeyarwady Region ( , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division) is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bordered by the Rakhine State to the northwest, the Bago Region to ...

. When he was 17, he was accepted into the

Defence Services Academy The Defence Services Academy (, ) located in Pyin Oo Lwin, is the premier military service academy of Myanmar, training future officers for all three branches of Myanmar military. The Ministry of Defence administered academy offers bachelor's d ...

and earned a bachelor of arts and a master’s degree in defense.

Military and political career

Serving in the military until 2010, he peaked as a brigadier general. He left the army at the rank of brigadier general in 2003 to become deputy minister of energy, before being promoted to minister in 2011. He joined the Union Solidarity and Development Party at its founding in the lead-up to the 2010 election. He won election to the Pyithu Hluttaw, representing Myanaung township, in the 2012 by-election. In 2013, he became minister for energy and for railways. In January 2013, his ministry awarded two new deep-water oil and gas blocks to Thai energy firm

PTT Exploration and Production PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (), also known as PTTEP, is a national petroleum exploration and production company based in Thailand. It is a subsidiary of the state-owned PTT Public Company Limited PTT Public Company L ...

without using a bidding process. The ministry also approved MPRL E&P to extend its contract without a bidding process to operate the Mann oil field in central Myanmar. Due to his controversial decisions over the awarding of exploration licenses and production concessions as a minister, Than Htay was transferred to the Ministry of Rail Transportation on 25 July 2013. He resigned from the post after Thein Sein picked him as a USDP candidate for the 2015 general election. He publicly supported the controversial Protection of Race and Religion Laws — a set of four laws to regulate religious conversion and population-control measures that passed under sustained lobbying from ultra-nationalist groups. In November 2015, he ran for re-election but was defeated. In the 2020 Myanmar general election, he won a House of Representatives seat representing Naypyitaw's Zeyathiri Township.

Personal life

Than Htay is married to Soe Wut Yee.

References

{{reflist 1954 births Living people Union Solidarity and Development Party politicians Members of Pyithu Hluttaw Transport ministers of Myanmar Energy ministers of Myanmar Burmese generals Burmese Buddhists People from Ayeyarwady Region Defence Services Academy alumni