Tin Oo (, ; 11 March 1927 – 1 June 2024), often referred to as U Tin Oo, was a Burmese politician, activist, and general in the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

who was one of the founders of the

National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy (, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a deregistered liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It became the country's ruling party after a landslide victo ...

(NLD) in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, the country's largest pro-democracy political party.

Military career

Tin Oo joined the military on 26 February 1946 as a second lieutenant in Burma Rifles

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

. He reached the ranks of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 7 January 1947,

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 27 September 1948 and served as executive officer at Armed Forces Training Headquarters. On 22 June 1949, he was transferred to No. 1 Burma Rifles Battalion as

company commander A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 100–250 soldiers and usually commanded by a major or a captain. Most companies are made up of three to seven platoons, although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and struc ...

. He was promoted to the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 25 January 1950 and became deputy battalion commander (2IC) of the No. 1 Burma Rifles Battalion and took over the position of acting battalion commander on 27 November 1952. Tin Oo was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 21 January 1954 and became commander of the 4th

Infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...

on 30 May 1957. He was then transferred to

Officers Training School, Bahtoo The Army Officers Training School, Bahtoo (, abbreviated OTS) is an officer candidate school for the Myanmar Army located in Bahtoo Station, Shan State, Myanmar. The Commandant of the OTS is Brigadier General Myo Zaw Win (BC - 27081). OTS trains a ...

commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

on 13 September 1957. Throughout 1958 and 1961, he served as the battalion commander for the No. 14 Infantry Battalion (starting 18 November 1959) and No. 2 Burma Rifle Battalion (from 16 February 1962) and after his promotion as

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, he became acting commander for the No. 13 Infantry Brigade (from 20 February 1962). Tin Oo was then given the command of South West Regional Military Command and promoted to the rank of

on 14 February 1964. On 19 September 1964, he became commander of Central Regional Military Command. He was then promoted to the rank of brigadier general and became deputy chief of staff of the

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

on 20 April 1972. On 8 March 1974 he was promoted to the rank of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

and became commander in chief of the Tatmadaw. He was armed forces commander in chief during the bloody crackdown on student protests surrounding the funeral of former UN Secretary-General

U Thant Thant ( ; 22 January 1909 – 25 November 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian as well as Asian to hold the positio ...

. During his military career, Tin Oo was awarded the Thura medal, a prestigious award for gallantry and bravery in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to members of the Myanmar Armed Forces. He led both tactical and strategic campaigns against the Karen National Union as well as the

Communist Party of Burma The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), also known as the Burma Communist Party (BCP), is an underground communist party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is the oldest existing political party in the country. Founded in 1939, the CPB initially fo ...

and various ethnic armed groups, especially in the north and east of the country.

Forced retirement, accusations and imprisonment

On 6 March 1976, as per Order no. 26/76 issued by the Council of State, Tin Oo was forced to retire from his position as Commander in Chief of the Tatmadaw. According to the official explanation released by the then ruling party, the

Burma Socialist Programme Party The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) was the ruling party of Burma (now Myanmar) from 1962 to 1988 and the country's sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman Ne Win overthrew the country's democratically elected government i ...

, he was forced to retire because Dr. Daw Tin Moe Wai, his wife, broke the rules and regulations laid down for the spouses of commanding officers of the Tatmadaw by accepting numerous bribes, thus affecting General Tin Oo's position. After his forced retirement, he was accused of high treason against the armed forces, the party (BSPP) and the state. He was subsequently arrested and tried for the alleged withholding of information concerning a failed coup-d'état against General

Ne Win Ne Win (; ; 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002), born Shu Maung (; ), was a Burmese army general, politician and Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's mili ...

and the Council of State. On 11 January 1977, Judge U Ohn Maung, Chairman of the Divisional Justice Committee for the

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Division sentenced him to 7 years of hard labour and imprisonment according to the Crime Against State and High Treasons Act 124. Tin Oo's subsequent appeal of this judgement on 20 August 1977 was summarily dismissed by Judge Soe Hlaing of the Council of People's Justice, the equivalent of a Supreme Court, and upheld the judgement handed out by Yangon Division Justice Committee. Colonel Hla Pe, commander of Northern Regional Command, Colonel Maung Maung, Colonel General Staff and Colonel Myo Aung, commandant of the National Defence College were also dismissed and the former two were imprisoned along with

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Tin Oo.

Political career

Tin Oo was released under general amnesty in 1980, after which he studied and received a degree in law. On 2 September 1988, he became the vice president of the

(NLD), and on 20 December, the President of NLD. On 20 July 1989, he was put under house arrest and starting on 22 December 1989, he was imprisoned for three years. On 30 May 2003, Tin Oo, travelling with the caravan of

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), Ministe ...

, leader of the NLD, was attacked in the northern village of Depayin by a government-sponsored mob, murdering and wounding many of his supporters. Tin Oo was taken into detention along with Aung San Suu Kyi and was initially held in prison in

Kalay Kalay (; , ''Kalü''), also known as Kale, is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located upstream from Mandalay and Monywa on the Myittha River, a tributary of the Chindwin River. The town is the district headquarters of the Kalay Distr ...

in northwestern Myanmar. In February 2004 he was brought back to his home in Yangon, where he was actually held under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

. The junta extended his detention by one year in February 2007, 2008, and 2009. The last of these extensions was in violation of Burmese law at the time, but no explanation was given by the junta. He was released from house arrest on 13 February 2010. After restrictions on the NLD were lifted in 2010, Tin Oo continued to work in the party and participated in campaigning for the

2015 Myanmar general election General elections were held in Myanmar on 8 November 2015, with the National League for Democracy winning a supermajority of seats in the combined national parliament. Voting occurred in all constituencies, excluding seats appointed by the mili ...

, which the NLD won by the landslide. He was floated as a possible candidate for the presidency but declined, saying that he preferred to help Aung San Suu Kyi "as much as I can". Following the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when Elections in Myanmar, democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's milita ...

, Tin Oo remained in his residence in

, where he was visited by junta leader

Min Aung Hlaing Min Aung Hlaing (born 3 July 1956) is a Burmese army general who has ruled Myanmar as the chairman of the State Administration Council, chairman of the State Administration Council (SAC) since seizing power in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Fe ...

, and later a pro-junta Buddhist monk who suggested that Aung San Suu Kyi retire from politics. The latter incident led to his family announcing a ban on visitors.

Death

Tin Oo died in

on 1 June 2024, at the age of 97. He had been hospitalised since 29 May with pneumonia. Over 1000 people escorted his funeral

Books written about U Tin Oo

Former Commander in Chief of Who Was Loved by The People Thura U Tin Oo (ပြည်သူချစ်သောတပ်မတော်ကာကွယ်ရေးဦးစီးချုပ်ဟောင်း သူရဦးတင်ဦး) by Phoe Sai Myanmar's Democracy Road and Thura U Tin Oo (မြန်မာ့ဒီမိုကရေစီခရီးနှင့်သူရဦးတင်ဦး) by University Sein Tin

Notes

External links

UK Foreign Office Facebook page
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tin Oo 1927 births 2024 deaths Burmese prisoners and detainees Burmese democracy activists Burmese generals Civil rights activists National League for Democracy politicians People from Ayeyarwady Region Prisoners and detainees of Myanmar Recipients of the Order of the Union of Myanmar Political prisoners held by Myanmar Defence ministers of Myanmar Officers Training School, Bahtoo alumni