Burma: New Face, Old Fist

New Face, Old Fist

Any hope that the surprise resignation of Burma's military overlord, Ne Win, 78, would lead to reform was quickly extinguished last week. Three days after Ne Win stepped down, the Socialist Program Party, Burma's sole legal political body, chose his protege, Sein Lwin, 64, as its new leader; the next day parliament named him the country's President. A retired army general, Sein Lwin is the longtime head of the dread riot police, the Lon Htein, and one of Burma's most feared men. He lived up to his nickname "the Butcher" when he ruthlessly suppressed student riots earlier this year.

While Sein...

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