Htin Kyaw Biography

Htin Kyaw is a Burmese politician who became the President of Myanmar in 2016, the first elected civilian to hold the office since the 1962 coup d'état. He was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate after the 2015 general election in which National League for Democracy (NLD) registered a resounding victory as NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from the presidency. Being one of the closest confidantes of Suu Kyi, it is believed that Kyaw is serving as a proxy for her. The son of a prominent scholar, he graduated with an M.Econ. in statistics from the Rangoon Institute of Economics and won a scholarship to the Institute of Computer Science, University of London. He returned to Burma after a course at the Arthur D. Little School of Management in Cambridge and became active in the nation’s politics. Known to Aung San Suu Kyi from a young age, he became one of her closest political allies and is said to have been a link between Suu Kyi and the outside world when she was under house arrest. A much respected NLD stalwart, he closely worked with Suu Kyi at the Office of NLD Chairperson and was sworn in as President of Myanmar on 30 March 2016. **Childhood & Early Life *Htin Kyaw was born on 20 July 1946 in Rangoon, British Burma (now Myanmar), to Min Thu Wun and Kyi Kyi. His father was a prominent poet, writer and scholar who helped launch a new age literary movement called Khit-San. *He graduated from English Methodist High School in 1962 and joined the Rangoon Institute of Economics (then part of the Rangoon Arts and Science University) from where he graduated with an M.Econ. in statistics in 1968. *He worked as a teacher for a while before moving to the Institute of Computer Science, University of London, on a scholarship in 1971. He also attended computer studies in Asia Electronics Union, Tokyo in 1974. *He furthered his education by earning another master's degree in computer science in 1975.