Myanmar’s parliament voted Tuesday to elect Htin Kyaw as the country’s next president.
Htin Kyaw is not a member of parliament, but he is a close confidant of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was among the first to vote in Tuesday’s historic election.
Here is what is known about Htin Kyaw:
- He is the second son the of the renowned Burmese Literary writer, poet, scholar and former Burmese professor Min Thu Wun, who was also an elected NLD Member of Parliament in 1990 elections from Kamayut Township, Yangon. He passed away at the age of 95 in 2004.
- Htin Kyaw is the son-in-law of the late U Lwin, one of the founders of the NLD.
- Writing under the pen name Dala Ban (named by his father after an ethnic Mon warrior of Myanmar’s past), U Htin Kyaw’s most famous book in Burmese is about the life of his father and titled: The Father’s Life: Glimpses of my Father (A Ba Bawa; A Ba Ah Kyaung; Te Se, Te Saung)
- Htin Kyaw was born July 20, 1946.
A timeline of Htin Kyaw's education, work:
1962: Graduated high school from English Methodist High School. Aung San Suu Kyi attended the same high schol, but Htin Kyaw was two years her junior. This Methodist missionary school later became known as Dagon High School No. 1 after the military dictator General Ne Win privatized all schools after his coup in 1962.
1962-63: Entered Rangoon University, majoring in arts.
1963-68: Attended the Institute of Economics and obtained his M. Econ (Statistics). He also taught as a tutor while attending his M. Econ (Pt. 2).
1970: Joined the Universities’ Computer Center as a Programmer Analyst.
1971-72: Attended Institute of Computer Science University, London.
1973: Married Daw Su Su Lwin, who is currently chair of the Foreign Relations Committee in the lower house and a NLD MP from Thongwa Township.
1974: Attended Computer Studies in Asia Electronics Union, Tokyo, Japan.
1974-75: Obtained M. Sc Computer Science from Rangoon University.
1975-80: Named Deputy Division Chief, Heavy Industries Corporation, No. 2 Industrial Ministry.
1980-92: Named Deputy Director, FERD, (Foreign Economic Relations Dept, Planning and Treasury Ministry).
1987: Attended a course at Arthur D. Little School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1992: Resigned from Deputy Director post.
2000: Arrested on September 22, spent four months in Insein prison. He was detained together with nine activists at the Rangoon railway station while helping Aung San Suu Kyi, who planned to make a trip to Mandalay at that time.
2012-present: Executive Committee member of Daw Khin Kyi Foundation.
* Aung San Suu Kyi told her party MPs after the nominations of her party’s two Vice Presidents that Htin Kyaw was chosen by her for his loyalty, his discipline and his educational background, which would befit him as the leader of a country.
This biography was compiled by the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity established by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2012 in memory of her late mother, Daw Khin Kyi.
