Maw Htun Aung | |
|---|---|
မော်ထွန်းအောင် | |
| Deputy Minister, Ministry of Electricity and Energy of theNational Unity Government of Myanmar | |
| Assumed office 26 July 2021 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1984 (age 40–41) |
| Political party | Shan Nationalities League for Democracy |
| Alma mater | University of Computer Studies, Yangon Hong Kong Polytechnic University Cornell University |
| Occupation | Politician Social activist Technologist |
LahpaiMaw Htun Aung (Burmese:လဖိုင်မော်ထွန်းအောင်; bornc. 1984) is a Burmese politician, social activist and technologist.[2] He is a deputy minister of electricity and energy of theNational Unity Government of Myanmar formed by the opponents of the2021 Myanmar coup d'état.[3]
Born to a small-scaleHpakant jade miner, when Maw Htun Aung was in high school, he experienced his father going bankrupt when the military enacted a gemstone law to make way for military-linked companies to exploit the area.[4] This encouraged him to work on community development activities, providing technical support related to natural resource management.[5]
He got his bachelor's degree from theUniversity of Computer Studies, Yangon. In 2010 he completed his master's degree in policy and social development fromHong Kong Polytechnic University. He also pursued a Master of Public Administration degree atCornell University.[6]
Since 2004[4] Maw Htun Aung has been working at a number of international non-government organizations such as the Myanmar Compassion Project, World Vision Myanmar, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Spectrum-SDKN.[5] He has also worked as a country manager at the New York-basedNatural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) for about five years.[7] In 2015 he co-founded and worked as a strategic consultant at Another Development, a research group focused on implementation of public policy.[5]
Maw Htun Aung joined theUnion Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) as technical support for its political organizations.[4]
In the2020 general election, he contested the fifth constituency ofShan State, which consists of the townships ofMu Se,Kutkai andNamhkam, for theAmyotha Hluttaw (Upper House).[8] Realizing that "there would be a lot of restrictions [in theNLD party] for him if he talks about the rights of ethnic people", Maw Htun Aung represented theShan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), a major ethnic party in Shan State, at the election.[9] While Maw Htun Aung is ethnicallyKachin, he took the unusual step of running for a party associated with theShan people. He claimed in an interview that this was to serve as an example of inter-ethnic cooperation and to support the SNLD's policies on federalism. Nonetheless, the seat he was selected for within Shan State was one with a sizeable Kachin population.[1] The seat was ultimately held by Aik Mun from theTa'ang (Palaung) National Party,[10] who had also won the seat once before in2015;[11] Aik Mun won 49,221 votes (27.38%); Maw Htun Aung 46,169 (25.68%).[12]
That government was ousted three months later in the2021 Myanmar coup. Some of its members, theCommittee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, formed theNational Unity Government of Myanmar on 16 April 2021.[13] Maw Htun Aung was appointed its deputy minister of electricity and energy on 26 July 2021.[14] A week into his appointment, he posted on social media, criticizing the military junta for trying to win international recognition and legitimacy: "Putting a sheep's skin on a wolf doesn't make the wolf less of a wolf".[15]