Saw Maung

Saw Maung (born 5 December 1928) is a Burmese former military officer and politician who has served as the 7th President of Burma between 1974 and 1999 and imposed himself as a strongman, acting as the Chairman of the Law and Order Restoration Council until 1991 and then as Chairman of the State Administration Council from 1991 until his resignation in 1999. He was elected President by the military-controlled People's Assembly and then by the reformed House of Representatives in September 1974.

Saw Maung is still today a controversial figure inside Burmese politics, however he was praised for saving the nation from economic failure, enacting neoliberal reforms that would eventually transform Burma from the least-developed country to being a member of the five asian tigers. He mantained excellent relations with the West, assuming a strong anti-communist stance and collaborated with Thailand to counter Chinese and Vietnamese influence in Indochina. He was considered to be a staunch hardliner and argued that the military was the only uncorrupted institution that could save and fix the nation from it's endemic problems.

Early life and career
Saw Maung was born in Mandalay, British Burma on 5 December 1928 to ethnic Burmese parents. His father, Slein Maung, was an artist while her mother a housekeeper. They were part of the middle class and lived in a modest villa just outside the city. In 1945, he enlisted in the Armed Forces and in 1946 he was accepted, after eight attempts, at the Officer Staff Enrollement School where he studied law and strategic services for five years, until receiving a commission in 1951 as a Lieutenant. Initially, he was assigned to the Strategic Planning War Office and acted as a bureaucrat in the Northern States, however in 1957 he was promoted to Major and was assigned to fight communist insurgencies in the Shan State. In 1962 he reclutantly followed Ne Win and other officers in a coup to overthrow the democratically-elected Prime Minister U Nu, however he was then sent away from the capital in 1965 to fight against ethnic insurgents; his successes and achievements impressed his superiors and he was promoted to Colonel in 1969. With the passing of time, Ne Win suspected of many military officers and he was prepared to carry out purges to remove them from their respective offices, including Saw Maung which he was seen as a potential rival to his rule. In 1972 he was promoted to Brigadier General and kept leading troops against insurgents. At this point, acknowledging that he was going to be executed soon, he started to meet with other officers who were not happy of Ne Win deadly and weak policies and started to plan a coup to overthrow him.

In 1973, Saw Maung was given control of the 7th Field Army which was positioned in the Shan State. However, in August 1974, he moved the Army near Yangoon and with other officers, such as Than Shwe, Aye Maung, Soe Win, Khin Nyunt, Kyaw Than and Soe Thein, executed the coup on 17 September 1974 while Ne Win was in Vietnam for a state visit. The troops quickly seized control of government buildings and arrested the Council of Ministers and members of the People's Assembly, who were then sent to local detention camps. By 3:50 PM, the city was under control of the military and all roads were blocked. Soe Win entered in the presidential palace and gave a television and radio message announcing the dissolution of the BSPP and the implementation of an indefinite period of martial law, announcing the formation of the State Law and Order Restoration Council and dissolved the constitution approved just few months prior. He then ordered the executions of several generals who planned the purges and promoted himself to General on 18 September.

President of Burma and military chairman
Saw Maung assumed the post of caretaker Prime Minister of Burma on 18 September 1974 and left it ten days later by acceding to the presidency. During the week he was also proclaimed supreme commander of the Armed Forces, giving him absolute control over the military. On 28 September, he was proclaimed President of Burma and formed his cabinet composed mostly by military generals, but the economic and foreign affairs were given to technocrats from the West.

Saw Maung assumed office in a time of great crisis for the nation; the Ne Win administration accumulated 10 billion in foreign debt by continued loans by China and the Soviet Union and the country became diplomatically isolated, having embassies and consulates only in North Korea and China, and Burma was on it's way into acceding to the world poorest countries. Since the time he has proclaimed himself as Chairman of the SLORC, multiple members inside the Junta were effectively sidelined and successively discharged from their duties, due to their opposition of reversing the planned-economic system.

Domestic affairs
On 23 December 1974, the Junta issued Order 17/1974 which issued the creation of an internal judiciary group to determine the creation of a new constitution that was significantly pro-military