Saw Maung

Infobox President | name=Saw Maung


nationality=Burmese
order=Chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council
term_start=1988
term_end=1992
predecessor=Doctor Maung Maung
successor=Senior General Than Shwe
birth_date=1928
birth_place=Mandalay, Upper Burma
death_date=death date|1997|7|24|df=y
spouse=
party=SLORC
vicepresident=General Than Shwe

Saw Maung ( _my. စောမောင်; December 1928 - 24 July 1997), born in Mandalay, was a head of State in Myanmar.

Saw Maung joined the army in 1949, a year after Burma gained independence from Britain. He became a major in 1967. From 1975-76, he fought against communist insurgents and ethnic rebels along the border with Thailand. In 1976, he became a brigadier general, and in 1981 an adjutant-general. He became armed forces commander in 1983.

Saw Maung was army chief of staff and defence minister in the brief government of Sein Lwin and became chairman of the junta when the army staged its coup in 1988 after the 8888 Uprising. He was effective ruler of the country as head of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). He also held the posts of prime minister and foreign minister. As a high-ranking member of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, he provided continuity of leadership during a succession of short-lived predecessors that followed the toppling of Ne Win earlier in 1988.

SLORC held free elections in 1990. The 1990 parliamentary elections were won by the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, but SLORC did not accept the results. It is believedWho|date=October 2008 that he retired as Chairman of SLORC in April 1992 for health reasons.Fact|date=October 2008 He was replaced as Chairman by General Than Shwe. Saw Maung died of a heart attackFact|date=October 2008 at 68 on 24 July 1997.

References

* [http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=6743&z=5| The Irrawaddy Online Magazine, Chiang Mai, Thailand]
* [http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199707/msg00408.html| Burma Library Biography]
* [http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199707/msg00399.html| Burma Library Biography]