Desperately Seeking Ne Win
A correspondent's search for an interview with Myanmar's elusive patriarch
By ROGER MITTON
Friday, October 12, 2001
Asiaweek
When I started reporting on Myanmar several years ago, I set my heart on trying to interview pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the man regarded as her counterpart in the military regime, Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt. I accomplished this, but there is one other person I have been even more determined to meet -- the former dictator, Gen. Ne Win, widely known simply as Number 1. So far, I have not succeeded, but neither have I given up. Recent news, however, makes me worry that the Grim Reaper might beat me to him.
Ne Win was rushed to hospital in Singapore after suffering a heart attack last week. His family, including favorite daughter Sanda and son Pyo gathered at his bedside. After a week in hospital, during which he had a heart sensor implanted, the 90-year-old general returned to his palatial lakeside home on Maykha Road in Yangon on Oct. 11. Given his healthy interest in women, his otherwise abstemious lifestyle, and his former sporting prowess, I always suspected that he would survive. I hope he has recovered enough to grant me a short interview. Hey, it could be mutually rewarding.
After all, he is keen on history and concerned about his own role in modern Burma being recorded properly. Message to the patriarch: I'm here. Sanda has my fax number. Just message me and I'll be there with notebook and recorder. It's not like I haven't been trying. Two years ago, after lunching with a banker at L'Opera in Yangon, I told the taxi driver to take me to Shwegondine Road. It was the anniversary of the 1990 elections and I knew Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy would be holding a special meeting of some sort. On the way there, I suddenly had a whim and told the driver to go to Maykha Road.
We drove to the end of the mansion-lined lane bordering Inya Lake and stopped at a checkpoint. The guard was asleep and when I roused him he seemed no more aware of reality than when asleep. But a more senior officer arrived. Explaining that I had flown all the way from Bangkok, I handed over a letter I had written addressed to Ne Win, asking for an interview. I also left a box of chocolates for the general.
I heard nothing. A couple of days later, I lunched with a former member of Ne Win's government who told me that the old man was in good mental and physical health, though he required a cane to walk. He said Ne Win favored traditional medicines, meditated quite a lot, and liked to read historical books of a religious bent. On that same day, I interviewed Suu Kyi at Tin Oo's house. The latter, a former brigadier-general, was once Ne Win's chief of staff. He told me a bit about his former boss, with whom he had traveled to the U.S. in 1965 at the personal invitation of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Tin Oo told me, as many do, how Ne Win was an admirable man in his early career; but he added that he was sure he would never agree to see me.
I was not going to let that daunt me. So the following March I wrote to his daughter, Daw Khin Sanda Win, and asked if I could see her. I was pretty upfront about indicating I hoped she would assist me in meeting her father. I was surprised when Daw Sanda replied by fax, explaining that she knew about me, that I had interviewed other important people in Myanmar, but she would not agree to meet me as she preferred a quiet, unpublicized lifestyle. I thought that was fair enough -- but being a journalist, I could not let fairness put me off. I wrote to her a few more times, but never heard from her again.
It was time to try a different tack. I had been given the name of a German businessman, Hannes Schlemmer, who lived next door to Ne Win on Maykha Road. I called him up to ask if we might meet some time. He promptly invited me round to his house for tea. I equally promptly accepted. It was rather odd to be sitting next door to Ne Win and for Hannes to tell me he had recently been invited over for a chat. I asked Hannes if he thought Ne Win would agree to meet me. Absolutely not, he replied. It sounded pretty definitive.
Still, I never gave up. Yet another tack was possible: Ne Win's current (but estranged) wife, Daw Ni Ni Win. I had heard Daw Ni Ni was head of the Historical Institute at Yangon University. So I faxed her office and she agreed to an interview. I met her last October. I took along a copy of a pictorial book about Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew. The book had a section about Ne Win that was rather complimentary. I thought he would like to see it. I gave the book to Daw Ni Ni and she promised to give it to Ne Win. I attached a short note saying I hoped he liked the book -- and attached my card in case he might like to contact me. Nothing.
I have still not given up. On my next trip, I'll go to Paungdale, near Prome, where Ne Win was born in 1911. Maybe I can rustle up some old family connections that might help me strike a chord with him. If that doesn't work, I may just send him another letter telling him that we have something in common: we are both former mail clerks. Old posties stick together. But I'm open to other ideas. Please send them in quickly as time is running out. If Ne Win reads this, I'm ready when you are. And I've got another box of chocolates.