Lt-Gen Myint Swe: Future No 2?

Amid recent reshuffling of key military posts in Burma, military observers and exiled dissidents are focusing their attention on Lt-Gen Myint Swe, who some say is slated to replace Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye as the ruling regime’s second-most powerful figure.

Myint Swe, the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations 5 (BSO-5), has played a prominent role in some of the key events in the junta’s recent history.

Lt-Gen Myint Swe

In 2002, as the head of Rangoon Regional Command, he played a part in the arrest of family members of former dictator Ne Win.

In October 2004, as part of a purge of the regime’s top ranks, he arrested former military intelligence boss and prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt at the airport. He also ordered the arrest of senior officers loyal to the ousted general, who was regarded as second in power only to junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Burma analysts also believe that Myint Swe was involved in the crackdown on monk-led protests in Rangoon last September. As the head of BSO-5, he wielded influence over Maj-Gen Hla Htay Win, the head of the Rangoon Regional Command. Observers say that Myint Swe ordered Hla Htay Win to carry out the crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.

In October 2007, Myint Swe is said to have donated about US $8,000 to monasteries in an apparent gesture of reconciliation following the attack on Buddhist monks.
 
Myint Swe is regarded as staunchly loyal to Than Shwe. A retired military officer in Rangoon described him as Than Shwe’s second favorite, after Gen Thura Shwe Mann, the third-most powerful military officer in Burma and the one Than Shwe reportedly favors as his successor.

When Myint Swe was promoted to commander of BSO-5 in January 2006, it was seen as an indication that the junta leader wanted to pave the way for him to assume a high-ranking position in the regime.

Myint Swe is an ethnic Mon who graduated from the 15th intake of the Defense Services Academy in 1973 as a second lieutenant. He went on to serve under Infantry Battalion 97 and Light Infantry Battalion 58, moving quickly through the ranks.

He was promoted to colonel in 1997 and became the commanding officer of Light Infantry Division 11, overseeing security in Rangoon and succeeding Gen Thura Shwe Man, who was named the Southwest Regional Commander, based in Bassein, Irrawaddy Division.

In 2001, Myint Swe became a brigadier general and was named Southeast Regional Commander after his predecessor, Maj-Gen Thiha Thura Sit Maung, died in a helicopter crash.

As a favorite of Than Shwe’s wife, Kyaing Kyaing, Myint Swe was soon promoted again, taking over the Rangoon Regional Command as a major general in 2002.

In May 2005, when he was serving as both Rangoon Regional Commander and chief of the Office of Military Affairs Security, bombs exploded at three locations around Rangoon, killing 21 people. Despite his failure to prevent the attacks, he was promoted less than a year later to his current position as head of BSO-5.
 
He was recently criticized for attempting to use the Cyclone Nargis relief effort for propaganda purposes, after he plastered the names of top generals on boxes containing aid. On one box, his named appeared in bold letters, covering a smaller label that read “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand.”

Myint Swe is known as a close confidante of Than Shwe, and some Burmese analysts said that what he says “reflects Than Shwe’s mind.”