Ne Win

The Burmese leader first got married to Daw Than Nyunt, and they had a son Kyaw Thein. Later he married Tin Tin, and the couple had two sons, Aye Aung and Ngwe Soe.

His third marriage was with Khin May Than, who already had three daughters from a previous wedding. Ne and Khin had three children, Sandar Win, Kye Mon Win, and Phyo Wai Win. The politician adored Khin May, and her death in 1972, was traumatising for the leader.

After Khin May’s death, he married a university professor, Ni Ni Myint, but divorced her to get married to June Rose Bellamy in 1978. The marriage with June did not last for more than five months, and the former President of Burma remarried Ni Ni Myint, his fourth wife.

Ne Win was born as Shu Maung, in the village of Paungdale, Burma in 1910, according to a Burmese book 'The Thirty Comrades' by writer Kyaw Nyein. However, as per other sources like author Dr. Maung Maung's book 'Burma and General Ne Win', the Burmese Prime Minister was born the following year.

In 1929, the young boy started attending 'Rangoon University', with a specialization in Biology. After two years, he was forced to quit college after failing to pass a test.

He soon joined the 'Dobama Asiayone', an organization that sought Burman supremacy as a country. In 1941, Shu Maung and 29 other young men were selected for military training.

Under the umbrella of the organization, Shu formed the ‘Burma Independence Army’, along with revolutionary Aung San, after which he chose a new name for himself—Bo Ne Win.

In 1949, he became the ‘Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces’, and brought about several changes in the structure of the army.

In 1958, the military general succeeded Burmese leader, U Nu as the Prime Minister of Burma, but stepped down two years later, after U Nu won back his position.

Ne Win was involved in a military coup which overthrew the Burmese government on March 2, 1962. The military leader took over the country's power, and dismissed the legislature as well as the constitution, stating that "parliamentary democracy was not suitable for Burma".

General Win established the 'Union Revolutionary Council' as the highest governing body in Burma, and declared himself the Prime Minister. The deposition was hailed by global media as "bloodless", despite the destruction and firing that took place at the 'Student Union Building' of 'Rangoon University'.

On July 13, the same year the Burmese general travelled to the United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland, claiming that he needed to visit doctors.

In 1963 he declared that 50 and 100 Burmese Kyat notes had become redundant and would no longer be accepted. This caused many families to lose all their savings in a matter of one night. The Kayan tribe of Burma considered this an unfair rule, and revolted against Win's government.

General Ne Win initially served as interim Prime Minister, but catapulted to power after organizing a coup in 1963 and overturning the existing government, to take supreme control over the nation.

Though he introduced some reforms for eradicating poverty and illiteracy, his approach to isolate Burma from foreign investments in a bid to give the natives more opportunity back fired, as it led to loss of cash inflow for the Government treasury.