Htin Kyaw is a Burmese politician who became Myanmar’s President in 2016, making him the country’s first elected civilian president since the 1962 coup d’état. After the 2015 general election, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide win, he was suggested as a prospective presidential candidate, despite the fact that NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally forbidden from running for president. Kyaw is thought to be acting as a surrogate for Suu Kyi because he is one of her closest confidantes. He received an M.Econ. in statistics from the Rangoon Institute of Economics and was awarded a scholarship to the University of London’s Institute of Computer Science. After completing a term at the Arthur D. Little School of Management in Cambridge, he returned to Burma and became involved in the country’s politics. He became one of Aung San Suu Kyi’s closest political allies and is claimed to have served as a liaison between Suu Kyi and the outside world while she was under house arrest. He was sworn in as President of Myanmar on March 30, 2016, after working closely with Suu Kyi at the Office of the NLD Chairperson.
Childhood and Adolescence
Min Thu Wun and Kyi Kyi gave birth to Htin Kyaw on July 20, 1946, in Rangoon, British Burma (now Myanmar). His father was a well-known poet, writer, and academic who was instrumental in the founding of the Khit-San literary movement.
He graduated from English Methodist High School in 1962 and went on to the Rangoon Institute of Economics (then part of the Rangoon Arts and Science University), where he earned a master’s degree in economics with a concentration in statistics in 1968.
He worked as a teacher for a period before receiving a scholarship to the Institute of Computer Science at the University of London in 1971. In 1974, he also studied computer science at the Asia Electronics Union in Tokyo.
In 1975, he added to his studies by receiving a master’s degree in computer science.
A Career of Htin Kyaw
Htin Kyaw went back to Burma and got involved in politics. In 1975, he began working for the Ministry of Industry as a Deputy Division Chief. In 1980, his political career took off, and he was appointed as a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Planning and Treasury’s Foreign Economic Relations Department. In 1992, he resigned.
He was a founding executive committee member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which was formed by Suu Kyi and named after her mother Khin Kyi. He was a long-time associate and friend of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The National League for Democracy (NLD), a democratic socialist and liberal democratic political party, was co-founded by Kyaw’s father-in-law. As a result, he formed tight bonds with party members and advised them on diplomatic and international matters.
He acted as a faithful ally and visited Suu Kyi on a regular basis when she was under house arrest, creating a link between Suu Kyi and the outside world. Suu Kyi was released for a brief while in 2000, allowing her to travel to Mandalay in central Burma.
After a fight with an army officer at a railway station, he joined her in her attempted visit but was jailed along with his companions. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest once more, while Htin Kyaw was detained at the notorious Insein Prison. During his four-and-a-half months in prison, he earned a lot of respect for keeping a calm and polite approach.
He was promoted to senior executive for Daw Khin Kyi Foundation in 2012. His friendship with Suu Kyi grew stronger over time, and despite not being a long-serving member of the NLD, he worked closely with her at the NLD Chairperson’s Office.
The NLD obtained a supermajority of seats in the united national parliament in the 2015 general elections. Despite being the party’s leader, Suu Kyi was technically disqualified from running for president since a law prevents presidential candidates from being nominated if any members of their immediate families are foreign nationals (Suu Kyi was married to a Briton and has two British sons.)
Suu Kyi picked her most loyal confidante Htin Kyaw as the presidential candidate because she was unable to run herself. On March 30, 2016, he was sworn in as Myanmar’s President, making him the first elected civilian to hold the position since the 1962 coup d’état.
He is not only a politician, but also a writer who goes by the pen name Dala Ban. ‘Min Thu Wun: The Father’s Life: Glimpses of My Father,’ he wrote as a biographical book on his father.
Personal History and Legacy
Htin Kyaw married Su Su Lwin, the daughter of U Lwin, one of the NLD’s co-founders, in 1973. His wife holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Washington in the United States and is a politician who has served in the House of Representatives since May 2012 as the incumbent MP for Thongwa Township. The couple does not have any children.
Estimated Net Worth
Htin Kyaw is one of the wealthiest politicians and one of the most well-known. Htin Kyaw’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.