Min Ko Naing
| Min Ko Naing | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Paw Oo Tun 18 October 1962 Mudon, Mon State, Burma |
| Education | Rangoon Arts & Sciences University, 3rd year B.S. Zoology |
| Organization |
All Burma Federation of Student Unions 88 Generation Students Group The 88 Generation Peace and Open Society |
| Movement | 8888 Uprising |
| Parent(s) | U Thet Nyunt, Daw Hla Kyi |
| Awards |
Gwangju Prize for Human Rights (2009) Civil Courage Prize (2005) John Humphrey Freedom Award (1999) National Order of Merit (2015) |
| Website | Min Ko Naing |
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Paw Oo Tun (Burmese: ပေါ်ဦးထွန်း [pɔ̀ ʔú tʰʊ́ɴ]); better known by his alias Min Ko Naing, (မင်းကိုနိုင် [mɪ́ɴ kò nàɪɴ], lit. "conqueror of kings") is a leading democracy activist and dissident from Myanmar. He has spent most of the years since 1988 imprisoned by the state for his opposition activities. The New York Times has described him as Burma's "most influential opposition figure after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi".
Min Ko Naing was born in Yangon, the third son of Thet Nyunt and Hla Kyi, a mon couple from Mudon in Mon State. He has three sisters: Kyi Kyi Nyunt, Ye Ye Nyunt, and Thadar Nyunt.
Min Ko Naing's interest in politics began at the Rangoon Arts and Science University in the mid-1980s where he studied Zoology. During his student years, he was an active member of the arts club, where he enjoyed reading, writing poems and drawing cartoons, especially satirical ones. According to classmates, Min Ko Naing was a member of a performance troupe which took part in the traditional Than Gyat competition during Thingyan (Burma's annual Water Festival) in April. Taking the name "Goat-Mouth and Spirit-Eye", the troupe performed satirical plays and sketches satirizing Burma's military government and the lack of freedom and democracy. Though the troupe was popular, it also attracted the attention of Burmese Military Intelligence agents, who began to track Min Ko Naing's movements. Despite the illegality of forming student unions in Burma, Min Ko Naing and other students formed clandestine study groups to discuss Burma's political situation, which grew into a secret student union.
In September 1987, Ne Win voided most denominations of the kyat without warning, causing many people to lose their savings overnight. Students who saved money for tuition fees were particularly affected. The announcement led to riots at several universities. The situation was further exacerbated by the shooting of protesting student Phone Maw in a 12 March 1988 clash with police. On 16 March, Min Ko Naing organized a rally of 3,000 students on the RASU campus in which he spoke about the role of student movements in Burmese history. When the students attempted to march to the Rangoon Institute of Technology, where Phone Maw had been killed, they encountered a barbed wire barricade at Inya Lake and were attacked by riot police, resulting in several deaths and many arrests.
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