One of busiest cabinet members in Naypyidaw is Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, having greeted countless diplomats and important foreign guests since President ex-Gen Thein Sein’s new administration took office on March 30.
In his first days as foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin met Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, former US presidential candidate and senior Republican Senator John McCain, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Joseph Yun, high ranking guests from China and other senior officials from Southeast Asia, both in Napyidaw and abroad.
And Wunna Maung Lwin is not afraid to throw his weight around, reportedly chastising US diplomat Joseph Yun during his Burma trip in May.
Rangoon weekly The Myanmar Times reported on May 18 that there were complaints over the senior American diplomat using the term “Burma” rather than “Myanmar.”
“You might think this is a small matter, but the use of ‘Myanmar’ is an issue of national integrity. Using the correct name of the country shows equality and mutual respect,” Wunna Maung Lwin was quoted as rebuking Joseph Yun.
However, Wunna Maung Lwin is not a career diplomat who became foreign minister, but a former military operational commander turned Burma’s top emissary.
In his previous military role, he was involved in Burmese Army offensives in Karen State before joining the civilian department in the late 1990s.
He was born in 1952 and attended the famous Dagon -1 high school in Rangoon, also known as English Methodist, before joining the military academy.
His army background began in 1971 at the Defense Service Academy (DSA) Intake 16th, and he remained in Pyin Oo Lwin until 1974. There he won the best cadet award, best training award and best academic.
Wunna Maung Lwin was also an English tutor at the DSA under the rank of captain in the early 1980s. He then served as General Staff Officer grade-3 at the War Office’s research department.
As a military officer based at No. 24 Infantry Battalion in Thaton, Mon State, under the South-East Regional Military Command, in 1989 Wunna Maung Lwin became involved in a major offensive in Maethawar, Karen State.
And this military experience in Karen State was not his last. From 1994 to 1996 he was appointed colonel of the tactical operation command in Kyar Inn Seik Gyi, Karen State.
At the time, the Burmese Army—also known as the Tatmadaw-Kyi—was battling the ethnic armed group of the Karen National Union (KNU) in eastern Burma. During this conflict government troops launched a series of offensives against the rebels to take the KNU’s headquarters of Manerplaw, near the Thailand border.
After serving in Karen State, in 1996 he was set to be promoted to a regional military commander and ordered to attend the National Defense College. However, he missed out on the promotion after reportedly failing a medical examination there. Later he was transferred to the Ministry of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs as a director-general.
After joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), he attended the 1st Intake Diplomacy Course and became Burmese ambassador to Israel from 1999 until 2001. He was then posted to Paris as ambassador from 2001 until 2004, and assigned to Washington DC in 2005 but was rejected by the US authorities.
Instead he was reassigned as the Burmese permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, as well as an extraordinary ambassador to Switzerland.
In Geneva, he was favored by ruling generals in Naypyidaw for defending Burma against criticism of the junta's human rights records at UN meetings. Sources at the MoFA said this primed him for a ministerial position. Even human rights activists admit that he was able to argue the junta's position well in the Swiss city.
Drawing comparisons with predecessors which include Nyan Win, Win Aung and Ohn Gyaw, a diplomat source who met Wunna Maung Lwin said, “his personality was not as good as even his recent predecessor [ex-Maj-Gen Nyan Win who is now the chief minister of Pegu Region].”
However, a former military officer, who was a classmate of Wunna Maung Lwin at the MoFA’s diplomatic course, described him as “a good man.”
After 100 days serving as Burma’s top diplomat, Wunna Maung Lwin remains unimpressed by the diplomatic community of the country. This is in contrast with Minister for Education Dr. Mya Aye, Minister for Health Dr. Pe Thet Khin, former Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Htay Oo and former Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu.
A Rangoon-based diplomatic said, on condition of anonymity, that different ministries' treatment of foreigners depends on the respective ministry's interests regarding policy priorities.
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