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Sein Lwin

President of Burma (1923-2004)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ887129 ↗
Source-derived summary

Sein Lwin (Burmese: စိန်လွင်, pronounced [sèiɰ̃ lwɪ̀ɰ̃]; 27 January 1924 – 9 April 2004) was a Burmese politician and retired military general in the Myanmar Army. He was served as the sixth president of Burma for 17 days in 1988, following the resignation of San Yu.

Sein Lwin was dubbed the "Butcher of Rangoon" for his brutal suppression of successive student-led demonstrations in the capital. He was seen as the brutal cohort of Ne Win and the man responsible for the ruthless suppression of dissent, notably antigovernment protests in 1962 in which scores of university students were slaughtered.

Early life

Sein Lwin was born on 27 January 1924 in Kawkayin village, Paung, Mon State then under the British Raj to parent Shwe Yin and his wife Ma Ma Gyi. Early, he worked a school teacher in his hometown. He has a son by the name Min Lwin Oo who was a mariners (navigating officer) in the late 1980s.

Military and governmental career

He joined the Army in 1943, and in 1944 joined Ne Win's 4th Burma Rifles. He is believed to have personally killed Karen rebel leader Saw Ba U Gyi.

Sein Lwin had a reputation as being a henchman for General Ne Win.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Sein Lwin” as president of Burma (1923-2004). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sein, Lwin and President.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1924, 2004, 1988, 1962—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1923-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Sein, Lwin and President providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Sein Lwin”, the useful work is to connect “president of Burma (1923-2004)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q887129. VIAF identifies the subject as 8872154260496324480002. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924, 2004, 1988 and 1962.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Sein Lwin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.