How to change Myanmar Condition? Myanmar's first non-interim civilian president in 49 years

 Mr Thein Sein

Hillary Clinton meets with Myanmar's President Thein Sein in Naypyitaw

Early life

Mr Thein Sein was born in Kyonku, Myanmar , a small village in what is now Ngapudaw Township in the Irrawaddy Division to parents U Maung Phyo and Daw Khin Nyunt. He was the youngest of three children. His parents were landless, and his father made a living carrying cargo at the river jetty and weaving bamboo mats.

Political career

Mr Thein Sein graduated from the 9th intake of the Defense Services Academy in 1968.

Throughout Mr Thein Sein's four-decade-long military career, he was considered a bureaucrat, not a combat soldier. In 1988, he served as a major for Sagaing Division's 55th Light Infantry Division and later served as a commander for Sagaing Division's 89th Infantry Battalion in Kalay Township. The following year, he studied at the Command and General Staff College in Kalaw, Shan State.

By 1991, he had returned to Yangon, after being promoted to the rank of colonel and 1st Grade General Staff Officer in the War Office. He was then promoted to Brigadier General, but remained at his position in the War Office, which marked the first time a Brigadier General was promoted to General Staff Officer.

In 1995, he was recruited as the commander of Yangon Division's Military Operations Command 4 in Hmawbi. A year later, in 1996, he was appointed to lead the new Triangle Regional Military Command in Kyaingtong, Shan State, serving this role for four years (1997–2001). While serving as Commander, he was known to be close to drug lords in the United Wa State Army and Lahu militia officials.

In 1997, he became a member of the State Peace and Development Council and was appointed as Secretary-2 in 2003. He was also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General that year.After Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt was deposed in 2004, Mr Thein Sein was promoted to Secretary-1.

Prime Minister

Mr Thein Sein was appointed in April 2007 by the nation's ruling military junta  as interim prime minister, replacing Mr Soe Win, who was undergoing medical treatment for leukemia.Mr Thein Sein was formally appointed as Mr Soe Win's permanent successor on 24 October 2007 after Mr Soe Win's death on 12 October 2007.

Mr Thein Sein held the position of first secretary in the ruling State Peace and Development Council junta. He was the country's fourth-highest ranking general,and also served as the chairman of the government-sponsored National Convention Convening Commission.Thein Sein carried out high-level negotiations with Bangladesh and Cambodia.

In 2007, sometime after his official appointment as prime minister, he was promoted to the rank of General from Lieutenant General. On his first official visit outside Myanmar as prime minister, Mr Thein Sein carried out high-level negotiations with Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, he led the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee as chairman and was criticized for the government's systematic blocking of relief efforts.

Presidency

On 29 April 2010, he retired from the military, along with 22 other military officials, to lead the Union Solidarity and Development Party as a civilian.During the 2010 general election, he was head of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which contested in a controversial elections and won the overwhelming majority of seats in the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. Mr Thein Sein ran against National Unity Party candidate Kyaw Aye during the election, contesting a Pyithu Hluttaw seat to represent the constituents of Naypyidaw Union Territory's Zabuthiri Township. He purportedly won 91.2% of the votes (65,620).

On 4 February 2011, Mr Thein Sein was elected by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw's Presidential Electoral College as the next president of Myanmar, becoming the country's first non-interim civilian president in 49 years. Mr Tin Aung Myint Oo and Mr Sai Mauk Kham were named as the new vice-presidents.

Mr Thein Sein was sworn in on 30 March 2011 alongside the two vice presidents and the newly elected parliament. In the first month of his presidency, he sought the support of ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan to support Myanmar's bid to chair the ASEAN Summit in 2014. As of July 2011, the government has formed a planning committee led by foreign affairs minister Wunna Maung Lwin.

Mr Thein Sein is considered a moderate willing to engage with  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; he had a high-profile meeting with her in Naypyidaw on 19 August 2011.

On 17 August 2011, he was quoted by the state newspaper

We will make reviews to make sure that Myanmar citizens living abroad for some reasons can return home if they have not committed any crimes. And if a Myanmar citizen in a foreign country who committed crimes applies for returning home to serve terms, we will show our benevolent attitude in dealing with his case.

Various news sources intrepreted his suggestion as an invitation for overseas Myanmar citizens to return to their country of origin and help rebuild the Myanmar economy.

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