Myint Swe, the former acting president of Myanmar who played a pivotal role in the military’s 2021 takeover, has died at the age of 74, the country’s military announced on Thursday. He is survived by his wife and two children.
He passed away at a military hospital in the capital Naypyitaw on the morning of August 7, according to a statement from the military’s information office. His funeral will be held with state honors, although the date has not yet been disclosed.
State media earlier reported that Myint Swe had been in critical condition and receiving intensive care since last month. He had reportedly been suffering from neurological disorders and peripheral neuropathy, which had left him unable to perform daily activities or fulfill his official duties.
Citing health concerns, he had formally handed over his responsibilities last year to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who has de facto controlled the government since the 2021 coup.
Myint Swe became acting president on February 1, 2021, after the military detained elected president Win Myint and state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in a dramatic pre-dawn coup. As the first vice president and a member of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), he assumed the presidency under provisions of the 2008 constitution.
Following the 2021 coup, Myint Swe was among several top Myanmar officials sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for his role in the military’s suppression of democracy and alleged human rights abuses.
Legal experts at the time questioned the legitimacy of his elevation to the post, arguing that the then president Win Myint had neither resigned nor been declared medically unfit.
As acting president, Myint Swe chaired the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC), the body that constitutionally holds emergency powers but is widely seen as dominated by the military. It was this council, under his leadership, that enabled the formal declaration of the state of emergency and handed over executive power to Min Aung Hlaing.
However, Myint Swe’s role was largely symbolic, issuing decrees and formal statements, while real authority resided with the military commander-in-chief. He regularly extended the state of emergency, facilitating the military’s continued grip on power amid ongoing resistance and international condemnation.
A former general with a long military career, Myint Swe was once chief minister of Yangon Region from 2011 to 2016, and earlier led Yangon’s regional military command.
During the 2007 Saffron Revolution, a major anti-junta protest led by Buddhist monks, he directed a brutal crackdown that resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests.
He also played a significant role during internal power struggles within the military in the early 2000s. In 2002, he was involved in the arrest of relatives of former dictator Ne Win.
In 2004, he oversaw the arrest of former prime minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, dismantling his military intelligence network and consolidating the power of then-junta leader Than Shwe, to whom Myint Swe remained a close ally.