U Tin Oo, a former Burmese military chief and defense minister who turned against his country’s repressive government to become a leader of the pro-democracy movement there, died Saturday in Yangon, Myanmar. He was 97 years old.
His personal assistant, U Myint Oo, confirmed his death at a hospital. He said Mr Tin Oo had a weak heart and died of kidney failure and pulmonary oedema.
Tin Oo, once one of the most powerful figures in what is now Myanmar, founded the National League for Democracy, the country’s main opposition party, with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during a failed violent uprising in favor of democracy in 1988.
Three years later, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest. She is again detained and it is unclear whether she had been informed of Mr Tin Oo’s death.
“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would be deeply saddened to learn of his passing, as she has lost a trusted confidant,” Myint Oo said.
In 2013, he told The New York Times that Tin Oo was “like a father to me.”
Tin Oo became vice president and then president of the party, known as the NLD, which won elections in 1990 by a wide margin but was prevented from taking power by the ruling military junta.
Soon after, he was one of dozens of pro-democracy activists and party members arrested and sentenced to long prison terms by the junta.
He became part of a circle of former military officers, known as the “uncles”, who advised Ms Aung San Suu Kyi during her 15 years under house arrest.
After his release and the establishment of a democratic government, which ended decades of military rule, Mr. Tin Oo continued to speak out on human rights and development issues in Myanmar.
“Personally, I know that the transition is difficult and challenging,” he said in a speech at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference in 2014.
“I have been a general, a political prisoner, a monk, a law student, a lawyer and a founding member of a political party, the NLD,” he said. “I had to face the harm I did to people when I served in the military. For this reason, I have apologized and have committed myself to the cause of human rights and democracy.”
“I love the military, but I love the people more,” he told The New York Times in 2020. “That’s why I supported the people.”
Mr. Tin Oo was born on March 3, 1927 in the port city of Pathein, along the Pathein River in southern Burma. He was the eldest of six siblings.
“He served his country since he was 16, fighting against fascist Japan and the Chinese communists,” said U Tun Myint, spokesman for his political party. “He received the highest title in the army, the title of Thura.”
Mr. Tin Oo joined the army in 1946 as a second lieutenant and was promoted to battalion commander in 1951.
He was decorated for leading campaigns against the Karen National Union and other armed ethnic groups, as well as the Burma Communist Party.
He was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces during the bloody repression of student protests around the funeral of U Thant, former secretary general of the United Nations, in 1974.
In 1976, in the midst of what some analysts saw as a power struggle, Tin Oo was accused of corruption and being complicit in an aborted coup. He was imprisoned until 1980, when he was released as part of a general amnesty.
He was arrested again a decade later for his opposition activities and spent many more years in prison and under house arrest.
His last arrest was in May 2003, when he and Ms Aung San Suu Kyi were detained after their motorcade was attacked by a pro-government mob in what some supporters said was an assassination attempt. Both were released in 2010.
“When a group of terrorists approached Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car, U Tin Oo came out and shouted orders to the terrorists: ‘Guys, this is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car, back off,'” said Mr. Tun Myint. that he was in the caravan.
Both Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and Mr Tin Oo escaped, although dozens more are believed to have been killed. Then both were arrested.
In 2015, the NLD won the country’s first truly democratic elections and began making the difficult transition from an opposition group to a ruling party.
The party won a landslide victory in a second election in 2020, but was overthrown in a coup the following year. A nationwide uprising and continued violent repression followed.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and convicted in a series of cases that appeared aimed at keeping her detained indefinitely. Mr. Tin Oo was allowed to stay in his home and continued to speak out in support of democracy.
Mr Tin Oo’s survivors include his wife, Dr Tin Moe Wai, now 99, whom he met when she was a doctor at a hospital where he was being treated for combat injuries, and his son Thant Zin Oo .