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.

Government departments approaching diplomats and aid agencies in the Southeast Asian nation can not be sure of their treatment, as foreign embassies were received very differently according to their standing.

-------------------------------------
Burma’s Foreign Ministry No Plum Posting

By WAI MOE

Within the first 100 days of Wunna Maung Lwin's reign as foreign minister, the ministry had to endure the indignity of a defection. In late June, Kyaw Win, Burma’s deputy chief of mission to Washington, sought political asylum in the US, saying there is no change in Burma under President Thein Sein’s new administration.

MoFA sources speculate that at the heart of Kyaw Win's defection was a ministry order that adult children of Burmese embassy personnel cannot live abroad. The new regulation made an exception for ambassadors, and the decision angered many MoFA staffers.

As within other government departments, sources say, the pervasive misuse of favoritism and frequent employment of double standards has divided colleagues, and causes friction between civilian officials and former military officers.
 
Cases of corruption and bribery have arisen at the ministry, sources say. Both current and former staffers have complained aloud that they are personally expected to pay about 2 million kyat [US $2,500] to the ministry’s administration department in order to secure a posting abroad, especially in Western countries.

MoFA has traditionally exercised a practice that embassy staffers abroad would take turns at what became known as “plum and lime postings,” meaning shifts between developed countries and Third World postings. However, those with close connections to senior officials in Naypyidaw are reportedly in a position to choose only the “plum postings” if they wish.

A prime example is Aye Aye Myat, a sister of Zaw Phyo Win, the son-in-law of former junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Despite MoFA regulations that set a three-year limit for staff in any one country, Aye Aye Myat has been enjoying employment as an embassy attaché in London, and the lifestyle that goes with it since 2006. And she recently extended her contract in the UK.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, several MoFA sources complained that  nepotism is still rife within the ministry, with family members of senior generals reaping the fruits of diplomatic postings. Examples given included the acquisition by Than Shwe's daughters  of luxury apartments in China and Singapore—properties that were originally purchased by the state intended as accommodations for overseas staffers.

In November 2009, there was a significant reshuffle at the MoFA following news that a secret military delegation, led by Gen Shwe Mann, went to North Korea in 2008. After news of the visit leaked to exiled media, 65 senior staffers at the MoFA were reshuffled, demoted or sacked. In early 2010, a clerk with the MoFA, Thura Kyaw, was accused of leaking the relevant documents and sentenced to death. His colleague, Pyan Sein, received a 15-year sentence.

“People would think working at the MoFA is a great job, and that one gets the chance to work and travel abroad,” said a former officer at the ministry. “But the really is not like that.

He said that under Wunna Maung Lwin's administration, the remaining civilian officials are looked down on by those from military backgrounds. He said the civilian staffers had been accused of being “traitors” and told they could not be trusted.

“They always boast that 'the greens are needed,'” he said.