Editor’s note: Hkwan Naw and Eaint Thiri Thu, two Myanmarese journalists, have written a series of stories about Htin Kyaw, the newly elected president of Myanmar who is barely known in his home country, exclusively for Tuoi Tre News.

According to a Myanmar folk story, when all royal members die, an enchanted carriage will automatically run from the palace to the outside world, and the owner of the next house it stops at will be chosen as the new king.

It seems that legendary carriage for the king has arrived at the doorstep of Htin Kyaw, 69, a very low-profile confidante of the 1991 Noble Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

With her blessing, he was confirmed as Myanmar’s first civilian-elected president, after five decades of military rule on March 15.

Secret political affairs

Understanding the new president Htin Kyaw is like solving a jigsaw.

According to sources, Htin Kyaw has been a close friend and aide of Suu Kyi throughout her house arrest period. He was reportedly one of only a handful of people who connected her to the outside world during this time.

During the 20 missing years in his biography from 1992 to 2012, Htin Kyaw was apparently her closest aide in political affairs, yet even family members weren’t sure of what he was actually doing for her then.

“He did not tell us what he was doing for her and we also never asked,” his sister Hta Cho said.

He was more likely to have been helping Suu Kyi in her residential compound on the University Avenue Road, than be involved in the affairs of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

It is difficult to shape the personal character of Htin Kyaw, who called Suu Kyi “Ama” which means big sister in Burmese. He seems to be loved and respected by the people he works with.

Cho Aung Than, the first cousin of Suu Kyi, remarked: “Htin Kyaw is always smiling, kind hearted. He treats me with respect though I am younger than him.”

He confirmed that Htin Kyaw and his wife are the people who had access to Aung San Suu Kyi’s bank account and would go to the bank on her behalf during her house arrest period.

When the international media revealed him as the former driver of the democratic icon Suu Kyi, a wave of discontent emerged among Myanmarese citizens.

“I also used to drive the car for her. During difficult times, we would all do everything we needed to for her. So, we cannot say he is a driver,” said Cho Aung Than.

“He has a good morality. He is honest and quiet. I can ensure that,” said Kyaw Soe Naing, a personal body guard of Aung San Suu Kyi. He continues, “He is a low-profile person. Unlike others, he is good at keeping secrets.”

While social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have become the official news publishing channel for the government and politicians in Myanmar, one of the tech-pioneers Htin Kyaw does not use any.

Htin Kyaw = Sherlock Holmes

Htin Kyaw is a big fan of the Myanmarese-style Detective Sherlock Homes character, which led him to change his name from Mg Po to Htin Kyaw when he started university.

“Detective U Htin Kyaw was his hero. So, he changed his name to Htin Kyaw during university. His name was Mg Po,” said his sister.

He is also interested in sports, especially swimming and even won the medal in the cross-lake swimming contest at a famous lake in Yangon.

The tall, humble and quiet Htin Kyaw, who always wears the Myanmarese traditional suit, was a schoolmate of Suu Kyi at the Methodist High School back in the 1950s, before she continued her studies in India.

He is one year, one month and one day younger than her. Moreover, their fathers were friends during the Independence movement in 1988. Suu Kyi’s father is the Independent leader and founder of the military of Myanmar.

However, his sister said the tie between only became closer after the 1988 uprising.

Htin Kyaw is pictured wearing the Myanmarese traditional suit. Photo: NLD

The little known president of Myanmar is the second son of the renowned poet, Min Thu Won. The family has an agricultural background, living in a village only a few miles away from Yangon.

Min Thu Won was also an elected parliamentarian for the NLD in 1990, even though he never got the chance to actually hold the office.

A former tutor and retired civil servant, Htin Kyaw hold’s a master’s degree specializing in economics from the Yangon Institute of Economics.

While a civil servant, he was sent to study computer science at the University of London using a state scholarship.

In 1973, Htin Kyaw married Su Su Lwin, who is the daughter of an NLD founding member and also a standing member of the parliament, elected by NLD.

In 1992 he sacrificed his deputy director position at the Ministry of Planning and Treasury for the sake of his father and his father-in-law’s involvement in NLD. He also resigned from the government position and was taken into Suu Kyi’s compound by his father-in-law.

Honest, loyal

Honesty and loyalty may be the reasons Aung San Suu Kyi’s chose him as the new president.

“I think she chose him because she believes he is honest and will never betray the country and the people,” said Cho Aung Than, who is the first cousin of Suu Kyi.

In the closed door meeting with her parliamentarians on March 18, Suu Kyi praised Htin Kyaw as a person with genetic loyalty, a disciplined manner and respectful talents.

Suu Kyi then explained to parliamentarians that these are the reasons why she chose him.

There is no record that he is himself involved in politics, even though he has helped his friends while they were in prison.

In 2000, when he accompanied Aung San Suu Kyi on her Mandalay trip, Htin Kyaw was detained along with seven NLD members. He spent four months in Insein jail, but it is not clear what he was sentenced for.

“He shared his food with us,”  Pyay Thway Naing who was arrested together with him that time, recalled in his article published in a local newspaper in March.

Since 2012, Htin Kyaw has been the executive board member of the charity foundation Daw Khin Kyi, which is named after Suu kyi’s late mother. He has traveled with aid trips around the country with the foundation.

“He is so calm; he listened carefully to the needs of the people. I was surprised when his name was nominated as a president,” said Dee Yan, Chin ethnics, who met Htin Kyaw on one of those aid trips.

A humble president, in his first message to the people, he said “Thank you. This is a victory for the people. This is sister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s victory.”

The first ever non-military backed president after five decades of a totalitarian regime, Htin Kyaw is shaped as the proxy or puppet of the democratic icon, given her message before the election that “I will be above the president.”

Suu Kyi is barred from being the president as her two sons are British citizens, according to a military-drafted constitutional chapter.

While it is still an unclear who will really run the country, Cho Aung Than believes that Htin Kyaw can do well himself.

“It is not that necessary Aung San Suu Kyi controls him in everything. He himself has enough capacity to run the country as president.”

By Hkwan Naw and Eaint Thiri Thu from Yangon

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