Nay Win Maung was a
Burmese physician,
businessman and
pro-democracy activist died from a heart attack he was 49.. Maung advocated a conciliatory approach toward
Myanmar's
ruling military junta, which seized power in 1988.
[1]
(
Burmese:
နေဝင်းမောင်; June 30, 1962 – January 1, 2012)
Maung argued that Burma could be moved towards democratization by
working directly with the country's generals, rather than confronting
them.
[1]
Maung sometimes took political positions which proved controversial
among Burma's opposition leaders, who often viewed his ties to the
military government with suspicion.
[2] He stated that Aung San Suu Kyi should accept a new constitution written by the military as a token of goodwill.
[1] He believed that Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) should only contest half the parliamentary seats in the
2010 general election, arguing that a landslide win for the NLD would scare the Burmese rulers into holding onto power.
[1][2]
However, Maung heavily criticized the generals for rigging the 2010
general election when the extent of voter fraud became known.
[1] (The NLD ultimately boycotted the election).
[2]
Maung grew up in
Maymyo (also called Pyin U Lwin), where his parents were history department faculty members at the
Defence Services Academy.
[3] From the 7th to 10th standards, he was selected as a
Luyaygyun
(လူရည်ချွန်), a nationally recognized well-rounded student. Maung
attended a regional college, where he majored in Biology, before he was
admitted into medical school. He graduated from the
Institute of Medicine 1 in Rangoon (now Yangon) with a medical degree in 1987, after repeating his 2nd year.
[3]
Maung did not ally himself with the National League for Democracy or its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
[1] He died form alliances with other opposition figures, such as
Zarganar.
[1] Maung met with Aung San Suu Kyi in January 2011, shortly after her release from
house arrest.
[1]
Maung left Burma for four months in 2004 to attend the
Yale World Fellows Program at
Yale University in the United States, focusing on
public policy.
[1] In 2006, Nay founded Myanmar Egress, a
civil society
organizations with other intellectuals, which he hoped would thaw
relations between the government and other pro-democracy activists.
[1] Nay hoped Myanmar Egress, which was headquartered in a hotel in
Yangon, to evolve into a Western-style economic and political
think tank.
[2] Under Nay, Myanmar Egress gave classes and seminars in business skills, economics, democracy, and
entrepreneurship.
[2] In 2008, Egress the relief effort in the aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis, earning accolades from international and foreign relief organizations.
[2]
In March 2011,
Burmese President Thein Sein called for reforms and
good governance in his inauguration speech, leading to a
series of reforms throughout 2011 and 2012.
[1]
Maung, who had long advocated a conciliatory tone towards the generals,
saw his ideas gain new prominence during the reform period and
opposition leaders gradually warmed to his ideas.
[1] The vice president of the
Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Maung Maung Lay, who represents business interests, told the
Wall Street Journal,
"We thought that he was pro-government...{but} he seems to [have been]
impartial" as reforms accelerated and progressed in Burma.
[2]
Maung died from heart attack on January 1, 2012, at the age of 49. He
was survived by his wife Win Kalyar Swe, and four daughters.
[4][1]
At his funeral, wreaths from both the ruling government's Minister of
Industry and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi were placed next to each other.
[1] Tributes from fellow pro-democracy activists, who had previously criticized his relations with the government, appeared in
Twitter and
Facebook.
[2] Likewise, the government also praised his efforts. Ye Htut, a spokesperson for the
Burmese Ministry of Information stated, "Now we are at the beginning of the
democratization
process and losing him at this stage is a great loss...He foresaw that
the new constitution would bring political space for democratization and
urged all stakeholders to participate in the 2010 elections, but few
people believed him and attacked him."
[2][5]
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