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)

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. Whenever he had whiskey with his colleagues, Tin Oo would say, “I have only one god—Gen Ne Win.” on the flip side, Ne Win heavily relied on Tin Oo and would usually consult him first before making any decision regarding who to appoint to the cabinet and top positions in the armed forces. Later, when Tin Oo was named joint general-secretary of the Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), Ne Win’s staff began calling him “Number one” and Tin Oo “Number one and Half”—behind their backs, of course.

Afterward, a rift between Ne Win and Tin Oo began to appear, and Tin Oo’s rivals fueled the fire by feeding Ne Win information about him. After he was appointed joint secretary of the BSPP, Tin Oo promoted Mon culture through several state-sponsored projects, including the Burmese Broadcasting Service, and a rumor began to circulate suggesting that he was a “Mon Pretender” who wanted to govern Burma after Ne Win’s passing. Several army officers including Sein Lwin, who is also Mon and received the nickname “The Butcher of Rangoon” after the 1988 massacre, were behind the smear campaign against Tin Oo.  

The campaign to discredit Tin Oo appeared to be paying off when, just a few days before Tin Oo’s son held a wedding party in Rangoon, many passengers at the Rangoon International Airport saw Ne Win board a special flight to Ngapali Beach. To many, this was a clear sign that Ne Win was unhappy with Tin Oo—all of Burma’s top brass other than Ne Win attended the lavish wedding, and after most of the guests had left, a drunken Tin Oo confided to aides that Ne Win was upset with him. 

Not long afterward, Ne Win summoned Tin Oo and reprimanded him. Then in 1983, Tin Oo was sentenced to five life terms in prison for misuse of state funds and property. The government published a series of articles accusing Tin Oo of corruption, citing his sons’ lavish wedding and the red carpet treatment he received at the Burmese embassy in Bangkok when he visited. Everyone knew that the corruption charges were untrue, and observers speculated that Tin Oo was purged because he moved to consolidate his power too quickly. 

Following Tin Oo’s removal, Col Aung Koe became the spy chief, but he soon fell from grace when North Korean agents planted a bomb at Aung San’s Martyr’s Mausoleum that killed several in a visiting South Korean delegation. “Where the hell was he?” Ne Win asked. The reply was that Aung Koe was playing golf, which prompted Ne Win to ask a second question: “Can we get someone who doesn’t play golf and doesn’t drink?” 

Brig Gen Tint Swe, the Minister for Industry (1), proposed his former personal security officer, Khin Nyunt, a young, charming and ambitious colonel who previously served in the War Office in the 1970s and was currently serving in the 44th Light Infantry Division in Karen State. Khin Nyunt was educated at Rangoon University before joining the army, and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew once called him “The most intelligent of the lot.” 

Ne Win, who was then over 70, did not know Khin Nyunt, but he soon began to trust the young, efficient and loyal officer. Khin Nyunt became Ne Win’s gatekeeper and was seen accompanying the dictator on overseas trips beginning as early as 1984. When Ne Win received medical treatment in Cromwell Hospital in London in 1986 (Ne Win’s last visit to London), Khin Nyunt hid a pistol in his jacket and stayed in the hospital overnight. And when Ne Win went to meet Princess Alexandra in London, Khin Nyunt was seen sitting obediently in a Mercedes Benz opposite Ne Win and his daughter. Accompanying Ne Win and many top leaders on trips to the West allowed Khin Nyunt to learn the thinking of the regime’s inner circle and, just as importantly, the outside world. 

Ne Win resigned in July 1988 and a coup occurred in September, following a mass uprising led by Burmese students. The resulting junta called itself the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Gen Saw Maung became the Chairman of SLORC, and Khin Nyunt—who had been well positioned ahead of the coup and helped create anarchy during the 1988 uprising that paved the way for the army to take over—was rewarded by being named Secretary-1.  

This piece is a summary of Aung Zaw’s article that appears in The Irrawaddy’s latest e-magazine. To read the full version visit: http://issuu.com/irrawaddy/docs/irr_vol.19no2_june2011_issuu/42?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed