In order to accurately analyze Burma and the players involved in running the government, one must understand the way that Machiavellian politics can lead to the dramatic rise and sudden fall of the country’s most powerful figures. Nowhere is this more true than with respect to Tin Oo and Khin Nyunt, the two men who successively led the country’s intelligence service from the mid-1970s to the mid-2000s.
It is believed that Gen Ne Win met Tin Oo in Mudon after returning to Burma with the Japanese forces. Tin Oo’s parents, who were both involved in Burma’s struggle for independence alongside Ne Win, asked the general to take care of their sons, who had all joined the army. When Tin Oo lost two of his brothers during the war, Ne Win decided to keep the bright and talented youth under his watch and not send him to the battlefield.
Ne Win sent Tin Oo to Saipan Island in the Pacific Ocean to receive training from the CIA, and he later received training from the Royal Military Police in England as well. After Ne Win’s 1962 coup, the new dictator assigned Tin Oo to take care of and interrogate VIP political prisoners, including former President Mahn Win Maung and former Prime Minister U Nu, who were being held in a special detention center called Ye Kyi Aing, located outside of Rangoon. Tin Oo made preparations to prevent any rescue attempts for U Nu and his cabinet members, and with help from the 4th Burma Rifles Battalion, prepared to respond to air raids or operations by a foreign country’s special forces. At one point, U Nu reportedly told Tin Oo, “You have to reap what you sow,” referring to Tin Oo’s role in punishing innocent people and elders. When Tin Oo’s wife delivered a baby daughter who was handicapped and could not walk, some believed this was U Nu’s prophecy come true.
 |
| Tin Oo during his days as the second most powerful man in Burma. (Illustration: Aung Lart) |
Tin Oo also flushed out several assassination attempts against Ne Win, which impressed the dictator immensely. In addition, he went into the field to confirm the death of Than Tun—a leader of the CPB’s Red Flag faction and a friend of the late Aung San—who in 1967 was killed in his jungle hideout by an assassin who claimed to be an army deserter. A bookworm, Tin Oo set up a publishing house within Military Intelligence (MI) to promote the regime’s anti-communist agenda and recruited disgruntled members of the communist movement who returned from their jungle hideouts to work for his MI-funded publishing operation. Tin Oo also published several of his own books, including “
The Last Days of Thakin Than Tun” and “
The Last Year of Zin & Chit,” which became primary resources for the communist movement in Burma.
At that time, whenever Ne Win went abroad Kyaw Zwa Myint, an Anglo-Burmese operation commander who served in the intelligence units, usually accompanied him. But Kyaw Zwa Myint didn’t like Burmese socialism and reports surfaced that he planned to kill Ne Win. The planned assassination did not work out, and before Ne Win learned of his scheme, Kyaw Zwa Myint fled to the Thai-Burmese border and then to Australia. Prior to Kyaw Zwa Myint leaving Burma, however, Tin Oo’s spy network in Pegu Yoma found out that he was in the area and sent news of his presence to spy headquarters with a question: “What is he doing there?”
Tin Oo quickly queried the War Office, but he received no reply because Col Lwin was afraid of reporting the case to Ne Win. But Tin Oo went straight to his mentor, who subsequently summoned senior intelligence officers and told them from then on to report directly to him. Afterwards, Ne Win brought Tin Oo to the War Office and his career took off: he became head of the National Intelligence Bureau and openly displayed his political ambition by creating the new position of chief military assistant to the president—a position considered to be more powerful than commander-in-chief. Tin Oo ran a ruthless and efficient spy network in Burma, earning the scorn of the Burmese people but accolades from Ne Win, who had many enemies and didn’t trust anyone other than his new spy chief. Tin Oo soon acquired the nickname MI Tin Oo, the name most people in Burma recognize to this day.
The spy chief knew where his bread was buttered and didn’t hide his admiration for Ne Win.
E-MAIL
PRINT
COMMENTS (10)
