Cinema
Yarzar Ne Win

Pop culture magazines are calling 2003 "Yarzar Ne Win’s year." The actor’s bold fashions and brisk dance moves belie his reserved and polite demeanor. After making a quiet entry into Burma’s entertainment scene in the mid-1990s, it took a while before the pubic warmed to his unusual style.

Since the turn of the millennium, however, Yazar Ne Win has achieved record-breaking stardom, capturing audiences with his trademark smirk. He has appeared in movies, karaoke videos and advertisements. His image is ubiquitous in Burma. His bizarre physical movements and pioneering style touch a chord with Burmese who are frustrated with their daily hardships and the military’s rigid social order. Each movie he makes earns him 1.4 million kyat (US $1,500), making him the highest paid actor in Burma’s history. Although no relation to the late dictator Ne Win, Yazar Ne Win is a grandson of another of Burma’s venerated "Thirty Comrades," Bo Zeya.

Htet Htet Moe Oo

With all of the rising stars in Burma’s film industry, Htet Htet Moe Oo still shines brighter than most. She began her acting career a decade ago, shortly after leaving her native Mogoke, the Land of Rubies, and picked up Burma’s academy award for best actress in 1996 and 2002.

Now in her early 30s, Htet Htet is not regarded as a greatly talented actress but her ability to act naturally has won her a faithful audience. You can expect to see more of her in 2004. She has already completed photo sessions for calendars and advertisements and will appear in a leading role in "Min Kyan Sit," the life story of King Kyan Sitthar from the Pagan Dynasty. The film is scheduled for release next year.

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Literature
Juu

Her writing career got off to a flying start in the late 1980s when her debut novel Ah Myat Taya (Remembrance) woke Burma’s literary world from its long slumber. Her novels first stirred controversy for endorsing Western existentialist philosophy and portraying unmarried couples living together. But after publishing about 20 novels, short story collections and essays, Juu still enjoys great success. Her most recent writings deal primarily with environmental conservation.

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Music
Sai Sai Kham Hlaing

With Hip-hop music on a firm footing in Burma, it should be no surprise that ethnic singers are also stepping into the market. Leading the way is Sai Sai Kham Hlaing, an ethnic Shan in his 20s. He got his start in showbiz modeling and performing in karaoke videos before recording his first album, Thu Nge Chin Myar Net Ahtu (With Friends). While most singers usually record only one or two songs for multi-artist compilation albums, Sai Sai Kham Hlaing released a full-length debut that topped Burma’s best-seller charts. Teenage fans like his relaxed sound and fashion. His latest release, February Mhat Tan (February’s Record), has also been a hit, both as an audio CD and as a karaoke video.

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Academics
Dr Than Tun

At 80 years old, historian Dr Than Tun has experienced the best and worst of Burma. His prolific academic career spans more than a half century and three continents. In 1956 he was awarded a doctorate in history from the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University for his thesis, "History of Buddhism in Burma, AD 1000-1300." His ten-volume publication, "Royal Orders of Burma," earned him an honorary doctorate of literature from Northern Illinois University in 1988. He worked at Rangoon and Mandalay universities for more than twenty years until 1982, when he left to work at Tokyo University and other universities in Japan.

Living in semi-retirement, Than Tun keeps busy nowadays by translating English books into Burmese and Burmese books into English. In 2000, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize Committee awarded him its highest honor for scholars.

Than Tun says he has not been active in politics since 1947, but Burma’s military authorities are not convinced. After publicly mocking the ruling generals for revering white elephants, which they believe bring good fortune to the country, the censor board temporarily banned his writings. "An elephant is an elephant, black or white," he said earlier this year.

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Media
Kyaw Zan Tha

As one of the few sources of real news in Burma, shortwave radio stations carry a lot of weight. And few programs attract as devoted an audience as does "Burma Perspectives," Kyaw Zan Tha’s weekly radio broadcast on the BBC Burmese Service from London. Listeners in Burma and abroad tune in each week to hear politicians, scholars, journalists and activists sound off about current issues in Burma.

Thiha Saw is also gaining a reputation as one of the best media personalities in Burma for his work as editor of Myanma Dana, a respected monthly business magazine in Rangoon.

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Religion/Buddhism
Ahshin Sandar Dika

Motivation has never been a problem for Ahshin Sandar Dika. In 1984, he passed his matriculation exam with the second highest score in all of Burma. But even before he took his high school final, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. "Ever since I read my first religious book in ninth grade I’ve wanted to learn the Buddhist canons," Ahshin Sandar Dika says. The experience moved him to dedicate his life to the monkhood, burying himself in Pali Buddhist scriptures and practicing Vipassana (Insight) meditation. He’s done some writing of his own, too: about 20 books that explain Buddhist teachings and his spiritual experiences, all in simple language for lay devotees.

Another monk deserving of attention is U Zawtika. The family-man-turned-monk was born to Muslim parents before converting to Buddhism. A prolific writer about Buddhism, his essays combine religious teachings with Western psychology theories, and emphasize that Buddhist meditation is not merely for religious retreats but can be part of one’s daily life.

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Social Services
U Hla Tun

After watching his only daughter suffer for years with leukemia before she succumbed to the disease in 1997, U Hla Tun decided to dedicate his own life to helping other terminally ill, and poor, patients.

The certified accountant, in his late 70s, founded his hospice program in Rangoon with his personal donation of US $100,000 in October 1998, making it Burma’s first registered charity organization. In its first 22 months, the hospice home care team visited 2,400 poor, terminally ill cancer patients in the capital and surrounding townships. In addition to providing financial aid and food as well as medical and nursing care, the hospice also funds burial rites for the deceased. All hospice services are provided free of charge to patients of any religion and ethnicity.

In September 2000, U Hla Tun completed construction of a 46-bed inpatient care center on five acres of land donated by the government. He now plans to take his services up-country. He has already contributed $100,000 to build Mandalay Hospice, and is receiving financial support from inside Burma and abroad.

Dr Cynthia Maung

Her tireless work providing medical care to refugees and migrant workers from Burma who live along the Thai-Burma border has earned her the nickname "Burma’s Mother Teresa." An ethnic Karen from Rangoon now in her 40s, Cynthia Maung left Burma after the military killed thousands of pro-democracy protesters and seized power in 1988. A year later she founded the Mae Tao Clinic in the Thai border town Mae Sot. The clinic now treats up to 200 patients each day who are required to pay only a registration fee of 25 cents. Humble and soft-spoken, she has operated the clinic amid the political turbulence that often grips the border town. She has received much international recognition for her work, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2002 for community leadership. And in April, Time magazine included her on its list of Asia’s Heroes.

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Social Commentator
Ludu Daw Amar

Burma’s most venerated female literary figure, Ludu Daw Amar has articulated her thoughts to the public for more than 65 years. She turned 88 in November and remains an energetic political commentator and a progressive journalist from her home in Mandalay. She was a courageous dissident, brandishing her pen to fight against British colonial rule. She made her mark in Burmese literary circles with her 1938 translation of Maurice Collis’s book Trial in Burma. In 1946, she and her late husband, Ludu U Hla, founded the Ludu Daily News. It was perhaps the most influential paper in Burma before the military regime banned it in 1967.

She has penned several books on culture, politics and key individuals, and has recently captured the public’s attention with her series of critical articles that disapprove of social decadence, titled Amay Shay Sagaa (Mother’s Old Sayings).

Burma’s current military rulers keep their eye on her, too. After the May 30 ambush on Burma’s opposition party, Ludu Daw Amar remarked that Burma can achieve democracy only after more bloodshed. The comment was broadcast on foreign radio stations, moving the censor board to temporarily ban her writings.

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Ethnic Ceasefire Groups
Bao Yuxiang

Bao Yuxiang (or Pao Yuchang) is the leader of 20,000 troops that comprise the ethnic United Wa State Army, or UWSA. Commanded by former comrades in the Communist Party of Burma, the UWSA is regarded as one of the world’s largest producers of heroin and, since 1994, methamphetamines. Bao Yuxiang made headlines earlier this year when he had to put down accusations that he was plotting to assassinate Thailand’s prime minister, who launched a campaign to rid the kingdom of drugs.

Though the international press calls him a major drug lord, his official title is leader of the Wa National Group, located in Northern Shan State Special Region (2).

Bao, in his early 50s, says he has no connection to the drug trade and has promised to eliminate drug production from Wa areas by 2005. He has since pushed back the deadline to 2007, and told reporters that anybody caught using drugs under his jurisdiction would be executed.

Since the Wa signed a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s military junta in 1989, he has forged close links with Gen Khin Nyunt, who was named prime minister in August. Shortly after the appointment, Wa leaders convened an emergency meeting, perhaps to rethink their political tactics, observers say. Bao recently visited the PM in Rangoon, and Wa leaders are showing interest in attending the National Convention.

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Ethnic Leaders
Hkun Htun Oo

He is Chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, which captured most of the vote in Shan State in the 1990 election. Born in Thibaw and raised in Taunggyi, Hkun Htun Oo later studied law and now lives in Rangoon. He is the grandson of the late U Hkun Htee, one of the Shan leaders who signed the 1947 Panglong Agreement to create the Union of Burma.

Hkun Htun Oo (sometimes spelled Khun Htun Oo) is also chairman of the Joint Action Committee, which is comprised of several ceasefire and non-ceasefire groups in Shan State.

Because he is daring enough to meet with UN envoys and talk to shortwave radio stations about his wish to see a democratic Burma, he has become one of the country’s most prominent political figures. He is regarded as a "moderate" by most Shan, and he does not regard the government as his enemy, he recently told The Irrawaddy. He is also the CEO of Overseas Courier Service in Rangoon.

The Shan leader said that his approach to the junta and NLD opposition party is constructive and reasonable. He wants Aung San Suu Kyi to make a bold political gesture by bringing her party to attend the National Convention.

Karen National Union (KNU) Deputy Chairman and Karen army leader Gen Saw Bo Mya is also causing a stir. Late this year, he surprised everybody by sending a delegation to Rangoon to negotiate an end to the 55-year war between the KNU and Burma’s military government.

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Politics
Aung San Suu Kyi

The General Secretary of the National League for Democracy party attended Oxford University and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Her two sons live abroad and have not been allowed to meet Suu Kyi in years.

The daughter of Gen Aung San, independence hero and founder of the Burma Army, returned to Burma in 1988 to fight what she once called Burma’s "second struggle for independence." Most of her time in Burma, however, has been spent confined to her own home, where she is now, detained under house arrest for the third time. Without her leadership the party is struggling to carry on.

Critics charge she is guided too much by principle rather than a pragmatic game plan. They say she needs to restructure the party and fill leadership positions with new, younger blood.

Sr-Gen Than Shwe

Burma’s cabinet reshuffle in August left the outgoing prime minister without a formal government title, but he is still the de facto head of state, retaining Burma’s most powerful position of armed forces commander in chief. He is one of three founders of the military junta, now named the State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC, who still holds a position in government.

The 71-year-old army leader is firmly in charge and shows no signs of relinquishing control over the junta. Perhaps he has unfinished business. For one, he wants the public to acknowledge his achievements as PM for 13 years—building dams, schools, roads, hospitals and renovating pagodas—but he feels the opposition party’s push for an international boycott of Burma is preventing him from receiving his due credit. He has long held a grudge against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and is suspected of orchestrating the deadly ambush on her party’s supporters in May.

Than Shwe is also looking for a trustworthy and loyal replacement to lead Burma’s armed forces. The early favorite is Gen Shwe Mann, who was appointed joint chief of staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force in the August reshuffle. He served under Than Shwe in the Southwest Command in the 1980s and is tipped to replace Gen Maung Aye as defense minister. He is also close to Than Shwe’s wife, Daw Kyaing Kyaing. An ethnic Pa-O, Daw Kyaing Kyaing is regarded as Burma’s "First Lady" and is believed to have had a major say in allocating cabinet positions over the years.

Fearing a repeat of the last days of former dictator Gen Ne Win, who died just over one year ago while under house arrest for "treason," Than Shwe wants his men securely in place so he can retire in peace. To that end, he is trying to purge the government of Ne Win’s remaining followers and cronies.

Than Shwe spends most of his time with his grandson, watching Chinese Shaolin movies and soap operas or sports. He still chews betel nut regularly. He is reclusive, but gets out regularly to play golf, a pastime inherited from Ne Win. He has little international exposure, but has visited China and Russia to go shopping—for arms. He OK’d the deal to buy a nuclear reactor from Russia.

Gen Khin Nyunt

Burma’s "Mr Nice Guy" was promoted to prime minister in the August cabinet reshuffle but lost his Secretary One position in the State Peace and Development Council ruling junta. Unconfirmed reports say he will soon step down as chief of military intelligence, but also say he will likely head the National Intelligence Bureau, which will oversee all intelligence agencies in Burma. He is a military adviser to his predecessor Sr-Gen Than Shwe.

Many analysts had written off Khin Nyunt in recent years, saying his power would be eclipsed by Army chief Gen Maung Aye or other rising military stars. But Khin Nyunt, on a mission to be Burma’s top dog, is clearly the man to watch. He is considered the most educated and adroit of all the ruling generals and has eliminated his rivals by exposing inside corruption and venality.

He has recruited bright and talented young officers to become his henchmen for the future and has dozens of advisers which include a personal astrologer. His power and his people are spreading throughout the armed forces like a cancer, say military insiders. At home, Khin Nyunt has the support of key businessmen, ethnic leaders and major drug traffickers.

His charm and diplomacy are also winning admiration from neighboring leaders who regard him as a "reformer" or "pragmatist." At least his winning smile is a bright contrast from the sullen and withdrawn Than Shwe.

Some believe that Khin Nuynt will cut a deal with the opposition leader one day and steer Burma in the right direction, but only after he has gained absolute power. Don’t count on it, say dissidents who accuse him of being a Ne Win crony and of playing a key role the 1988 deadly crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.

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Business
Te Za

He is not yet 40 years old but Te Za’s (sometimes spelled Tay Za) reach already extends far in Burma’s economy. As President and Managing Director of Htoo Trading Company, he is a major player in Burma’s tourism, logging, real estate, and hotel and housing development industries. He founded Htoo Trading with an initial investment of US $333,333 in the early 1990s to export timber. By 1993, he expanded into supplying aircraft parts. His Myanmar Avia Export is Burma’s sole representative of Russia’s Export Military Industrial Group (MAPO) and of the Russian helicopter company Rostvertol. He was instrumental in helping the junta buy MiG-29 fighter jets and helicopters from Russia and is suspected of selling smaller arms also.

Htoo Transportation Services is involved in heavy duty land and marine transport services and his Aye Shwe Wah Co owns rice mills as well as a farm machinery and servicing company. Htoo Trading is involved in building the controversial Nanmyint Tower in the world heritage site Pagan. But this year journals in Rangoon have been told not to report on Htoo companies, but no reason was given.

Htoo and Treasure Beach runs hotel and housing projects in Rangoon, including the Espace Avenir Serviced Apartments, which overlook Rangoon University. Espace is rumored to be a favorite concubine headquarters for high ranking military officers. Its website touts the complex as "a good reason to stay home surrounded in luxury and command your business empire."

Te Za and Htoo Trading were named in a recent report on deforestation in Burma by the UK-based advocacy group Global Witness. The report claimed Htoo’s logging and resource extraction activities are responsible for much of the environmental degradation in Burma, particularly in "brown areas" controlled by the Karen National Union around Nyaunglaybin Township in Pegu Division. Among Htoo Trading’s four directors are Sit Taing Aung, son of former Forestry Minister U Aung Phone, and Te Za’s wife, Thida Zaw.

Te Za owns a home in Singapore and recently built a large mansion in Rangoon, which was designed by a British architect and reportedly has been furnished with $1 million worth of Versace furniture.

Although now conducting business as a civilian, Te Za is no stranger to the army. He attended the Defense Services Academy in Maymyo before dropping out in his final year to marry Thida Zaw. The couple has three children. Family members rejected rumors the marriage is on the rocks, but did admit that the eldest daughter of junta chairman Sr-Gen Than Shwe has been courting the young tycoon. Te Za’s father, Lt-Col Myint Swe, a retired military researcher in his 80s, is considered one of the founders of Burma’s Military Intelligence Service in the 1960s.

Ye Naing Win

He is the son of Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt and the Director of Bagan Cybertech, Burma’s largest information technology company. Ye Naing Win, now in his late 30s, signed a US $12 million satellite communication deal with Shin Corp, a telecom company owned by the son of Thailand’s prime minister. Ye Naing Win, often described as friendly and down to earth, is also a chairman of Maykha Group which owns fashion boutiques and coffee shops in Rangoon.

In 1998 the physician-cum-telecom magnate was disowned by his father for marrying a Singaporean flight attendant. The announcement appeared in the newspaper at the same time the junta was chiding opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the press for marrying Michael Aris, a Briton. But, as a matter of family business, Ye Naing Win regained his father’s favor. Now if he can just provide unrestricted Internet access to Burma’s public.

Khin Shwe

Since Burma’s banking system lurched toward collapse in February, major bank owners Aung Ko Win, Kyaw Win and Aik Htun have faded from public view. Now, it is real estate mogul Khin Shwe who is pictured rubbing shoulders with the ruling generals in the pages of the government-run New Light of Myanmar. He is Chairman of Zay Kaba Co Ltd, President of the National Development Company Group and President of the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association.

Shortly after the US tightened sanctions against Burma in July, Khin Shwe pledged to double border trade, and then went to neighboring China and Thailand to sign trade agreements. He has publicly backed PM Gen Khin Nyunt’s seven-point "road map" to democracy and has criticized opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for causing trouble for the people by acting out of self-interest. He is considered less a gifted businessman than a beneficiary of the military junta’s backing. In 1998 Khin Shwe supposedly received an honorary doctorate in business administration from the University of Washington. Military leaders even held a ceremony for him, but it was later revealed that the university never awarded him a diploma.