Ye Htut
| Ye Htut | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Information of Myanmar | |
|
In office 1 August 2014 – 30 March 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Aung Kyi |
| Succeeded by | Pe Myint |
| Spokesperson for the President | |
|
In office February 2013 – 30 March 2016 | |
| Deputy Minister of Information of Myanmar | |
|
In office 31 August 2012 – 1 August 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Soe Win |
| Deputy Director General/Director General at the Ministry of Information | |
|
In office 2005 – 31 August 2012 | |
| Succeeded by | Tint Swe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1959 (age 57) |
| Nationality | Myanmar |
| Political party | Union Solidarity and Development Party |
| Spouse(s) | Khin Sandar Tun |
| Residence | Naypyidaw |
| Occupation | Army Officer |
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism |
| Website |
www |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Myanmar |
| Service/branch | Myanmar Army |
| Years of service | 1977-2005 |
| Rank |
 Lieutenant Colonel |
Ye Htut (Burmese: ရဲထွဋ်, [jɛ́ tʰʊʔ]) was the Minister for the Ministry of Information of Myanmar (Burma) from 2014 to 2016 and spokesperson for the President from 2013 to 2016.[1] He previously served as a Lieutenant Colonel in Myanmar Army.
Military career
Ye Htut applied to Defence Services Academy but initially rejected, so enrolled at Rangoon University. He applied again and accepted for the academy’s 22nd intake in 1977. After graduation in 1981, he was dispatched to Kayin State, where he would spend five years fighting the Karen National Union along the Myanmar-Thai border.
Over the next 16 years, he served in Tanintharyi Region, Kayin State, Kachin State and near Naypyidaw, before landing as the chief instructor at a training facility in southern Shan State in 2002. He also contributed articles for the army’s Myawady news journal.[2]
Governmental career
He was retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in Myanmar Army and took up the post of Deputy Director General at the Department of Information and Public Relations under the Ministry of Information in 2005. He was promoted as the Director General of the department in 2009, which has been viewed as a propaganda machine for the military government.[1]
He became Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Information in August 2012 when the former minister Kyaw Hsan and deputy ministers were reshuffled to other ministries.[3] He became spokesperson for the President in February 2013.[2][4][5]
On July 30, 2014, he was nominated to be Minister for the Ministry of Information. On August 1, the Assembly of the Union confirmed his nomination.
Public image
He is an active Facebook user, has an official account on the social media site where he often shares news from the government and the military and writes his opinions through his Facebook account.[1] He earned the nickname Facebook minister for his frequent use of Facebook.[6]
In 2012, Media reports, particularly those in Eleven Media, suggested that he was behind the blog posts known by the pen name Dr Sate Phwar, who criticized the legislature for acting above the law. However, he denied that the accusations linking him to Dr Seik Phwar.[7] The Assembly of the Union formed a commission to investigate the identity of Dr Seik Phwar after the blogger wrote an article criticising parliament. The commission’s chairman said they found evidence that could implicate him.[8] However, the commission failed to disclose the identity of Dr Seik Phwar, after five months of investigation.[9]
In June 2014, he posted an apology note on his Facebook account after a storm of criticism followed his wife’s sharing of a Photoshopped image of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Hijab. His wife deleted her Facebook account after screenshots of her post were spread by other Facebook users.[6]
Personal life
He married to Khin Sandar Tun.[6] His father, Shwe Than, was formerly the Chief of Burma Police Force and a People's Assembly representative during the socialist era.[10]
References
- 1 2 3 "Facebook fan Ye Htut named presidential spokesman". The Nation. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- 1 2 "U Ye Htut: From military to ministry". Mmtimes.com. 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
- ↑ Aung Zaw (3 September 2012). "Will Aung Kyi Defend Press Freedom?". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ↑ "Who is Ye Htut?". The Nation. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ↑ Kyaw Hsu Mon (24 September 2012). "Senior bureaucrats on the move in another reshuffle". The Myanmar Times. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- 1 2 3 Zarni Mann (6 June 2014). "Minister's Wife Shares Fake Facebook Photo of Suu Kyi in Islamic Headscarf". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ↑ "I am not Dr Seik Phwar": U Ye Htut". The Myanmar Times. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ↑ KYAW PHYO THA & HTET NAING ZAW (4 July 2013). "Deputy Minister Ye Htut in the Hot Seat Over Defamatory Anonymous Blog". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ↑ "Parliamentary commission fails to expose defamatory blogger". Eleven. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ↑ Zay Thu (27 August 2014). "ဒီမိုကရေစီ အစိုးရတွင်လည်း မဆလလူကြီးများ၏ သားသမီးများသာ ရာထူးကြီးများ ရယူထား". Tomorrow (in Burmese). Retrieved 9 July 2015.