YANGON: Myint Swe, who became Myanmar’s president during a 2021 coup against an elected civilian government and immediately handed power to the military, has died a year after going on medical leave, a junta statement said on Thursday (Aug 7).
“President U Myint Swe passed away at 8.28 am this morning,” said the junta, adding the 74-year-old had died in a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw.
“It is hereby announced that the funeral of Pro Tem President U Myint Swe will be held as a state funeral.”
State media said on Wednesday he was experiencing “weight loss, loss of appetite, fever and a decline in cognitive function” and had been admitted to intensive care.
He became nominal president after the incumbent Win Myint was arrested during the coup alongside Nobel laureate and de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. They have been detained ever since.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the coup plunged the Southeast Asian nation into civil war, with the military fighting to contain a rebellion and accused of widespread atrocities, which it denies.
Myint Swe had served as vice president under Myanmar’s quasi-civilian system before becoming the figurehead president.
The junta had depended on him to sign its decrees and provide a veneer of legitimacy to its rule. He was placed on medical leave in July last year, with his duties passed to junta chief and armed forces commander Min Aung Hlaing.
Min Aung Hlaing last week ended the nationwide state of emergency declared during the takeover, touting plans for an election in December as an off-ramp to the conflict consuming the country.
The move handed power from the office of the armed forces chief – occupied by Min Aung Hlaing – back to the president’s office – also held by Min Aung Hlaing.
Opposition groups have pledged to boycott the poll, while a UN expert in June described the exercise as a “fraud” designed to legitimise the junta’s continued rule.
No exact date has yet been set for the election.
