Zaw Min Tun (general)

In this Burmese name, the given name is Zaw Min Tun. There is no family name.
His Excellency[1]
Major General
Zaw Min Tun
ဇော်မင်းထွန်း
Zaw Min Tun at a Tatmadaw True News Information Team press conference in January 2019
Deputy Minister of Information of Myanmar
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 February 2021
PresidentMin Aung Hlaing (acting)
Myint Swe
Prime MinisterMin Aung Hlaing
DeputySoe Win (general)
Preceded byAung Hla Tun
Head of the Press Team of the State Administration Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 February 2021
LeaderMin Aung Hlaing
Preceded byPosition established
Chief of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team
In office
5 February 2021 – 2021
Preceded byMajor General Soe Naing Oo
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Director of Public Relations and Psychological Warfare of the Myanmar Army
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 2021
Preceded byPosition established
Personal details
BornYenanchaung, Myanmar (Burma)
CitizenshipMyanmar
SpouseThin Thin Aung
ChildrenThar Htet Htun
Alma materDefence Services Academy (37th intake)
OccupationArmy general, spokesperson, government minister
WebsiteMinistry of Information (Myanmar)
Military service
Allegiance Tatmadaw
Branch/service Myanmar Army
Years of service1990–present
Rank Major General
Battles/wars

Zaw Min Tun (Burmese: ဇော်မင်းထွန်း; pronounced [zɔ̀ mɪ́ɰ̃ tʰʊ̀ɴ]; born in Myanmar) is a Burmese army general serving as Deputy Minister of Information in Myanmar.[2][3] He leads the Tatmadaw True News Information Team and heads the press office of the State Administration Council (SAC), the military-led governing body established after the 2021 coup.[4][5][6]

Since the coup, Zaw Min Tun has been the military’s main spokesperson, regularly addressing the media on behalf of the government and armed forces. He oversees state-run information channels and plays a central role in shaping the junta’s messaging both domestically and internationally.[7][8]

Early life and education

Zaw Min Tun was born in Yenangyaung, a town in central Myanmar.[9][10] He graduated from the 37th intake of the Defence Services Academy (DSA), Myanmar’s premier military training institution.[11][12]

There, he received training in military leadership, strategy, and communication — skills that would shape his future roles in both operations and military public relations.[13][14]

Zaw Min Tun (at the far right), during a Tatmadaw True News Information Team meeting on 23 February 2019

Military career

Zaw Min Tun began his military career after graduating from the Defence Services Academy, rising through the ranks with experience in both operations and public relations.[15][16]

Following the February 2021 coup, he was appointed as press team leader for the State Administration Council (SAC) and as Deputy Minister of Information. Since then, he has served as the military’s chief spokesperson, overseeing state-run media and defending the junta’s actions to both domestic and international audiences.[17][18][19]

In 2019, he publicly rejected a prisoner exchange proposal from the Arakan Army, asserting that the Tatmadaw does not negotiate with groups it classifies as terrorist organizations. He later defended the 2022 executions of political activists, describing them as lawful and necessary despite widespread condemnation.[20][21][22]

He has also addressed personal and symbolic moments within the military, including the death of his nephew, Lieutenant Colonel Thet Paing Tun, during clashes with ethnic armed groups.[23][24] Zaw Min Tun played a communications role during Operation 1027, launched by the Three Brotherhood Alliance in northern Shan State.[25][26]

Internationally, he has represented the military in engagements with countries such as Russia, facilitating cooperation on nuclear energy and infrastructure projects.[27][28] In February 2025, he dismissed an Argentine court’s arrest warrant for Myanmar’s military leaders as politically motivated interference.[29][30]

He confirmed preparations for a general election in 2025 and addressed Myanmar’s diplomatic efforts, including its ties with India and participation in BIMSTEC summits.[31][32]

Following the 2025 earthquake in central Myanmar, he issued a rare public appeal for international humanitarian assistance, marking a notable shift in the military’s usual approach to external aid.[33][34][35]

In July 2025, Zaw Min Tun announced the lifting of the state of emergency in certain parts of Myanmar as the military government advanced plans for upcoming elections.[36][37] He stated that “the state of emergency is abolished today in order for the country to hold elections on the path to a multiparty democracy.”[38] Nonetheless, a state of emergency and martial law were simultaneously imposed in several regions due to ongoing security concerns. Zaw Min Tun indicated that elections were to be held within six months, with polling scheduled for December and January, under a commission chaired by military leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.[39][40]

Zaw Min Tun (at the far right), during a Tatmadaw True News Information Team press conference on 18 January 2019
Zaw Min Tun during an interview with Voice of America on 27 March 2023

Personal life

Zaw Min Tun is married to Thin Thin Aung, and they have one child, Thar Htet Htun.[41] While the family maintains a low public profile, they have occasionally appeared together at official military events and government functions.

See also

References

  1. ^ Meeting between Hun Sen and Aung San Suu Kyi unfeasible at present- SAC spokesman (Published on May 10, 2024)
  2. ^ "Union Ministers and Deputy Ministers". www.moi.gov.mm.
  3. ^ "This is not a coup", said Major General Zaw Min Tun from a gilded hall in Myanmar's purpose-built capital Naypyidaw, the city where his comrades recently ousted an elected government, detained the country's leadership, and installed a military junta". The ASEAN Post. 9 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Detained Myanmar president, state counsellor to be treated in line with law: military". Xinhua. 16 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Exclusive Interview with Major General Zaw Min Tun, Spokeperson of SAC ". NP News. 14 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Myanmar military government spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told pro-army media a day after Laukkaing's fall that its local commanders relinquished control of the city after considering many factors including the safety of family members and of soldiers stationed there". The Seattle Times. 24 January 2024.
  7. ^ "Myanmar Military Asks Govt to Punish Minister for Police Remark". The Irrawaddy. 4 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun from the Myanmar military's information team said the soldiers' sentences were reduced after their family members and Buddhist monks submitted petitions to Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing". Radio Free Asia. 30 May 2019.
  9. ^ "Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi is moved to house arrest due to extreme heat. A spokesperson for the Myanmar military that ousted democratically elected Suu Kyi, 78, in a coup in 2021 said it was protecting her and other older prisoners from heatstroke". NBC News. 16 April 2024.
  10. ^ Grant Peck (8 December 2023). "Myanmar's army is facing battlefield challenges and grants amnesty to troops jailed for being AWOL". AP News.
  11. ^ "Zaw Min Tun, however, claimed the order was merely resistance propaganda issued to coincide with attacks. People who wanted to know the truth about Naypyitaw could ask anyone there, he added". The Irrawaddy. 29 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Major General Zaw Min Tun - Press Team Leader of the State Administrative Council appointed on 5 February 2021 and the Deputy Minister for Information appointed on 7 February 2021 by the State Administrative Council (SAC)". Open Sanctions. 21 June 2021.
  13. ^ "State Administration Council Information Team Leader Major General Zaw Min Tun Provides Updates on Ongoing Armed Conflicts and Measures Taken by the Tatmadaw". Myanmar National Portal. 21 November 2023.
  14. ^ "Myanmar Situation Update: Leader of the SAC Information Team Zaw Min Tun makes clarifications". MITV. 4 December 2023.
  15. ^ "'We Didn't Put Restrictions on Everything,' Says Myanmar Junta Spokesman in 1st Remarks Since Coup". Radio Free Asia.
  16. ^ "Myanmar's army defends crackdown, vows to stop 'anarchy'". Thai PBS World. 23 March 2021.
  17. ^ "Major-General Zaw Min Tun says China and Myanmar are strategic partners". cnimyanmar.com.
  18. ^ "General Zaw Min Tun, spokesman and deputy information minister, speaks during a media tour of the sitting Maravijaya Buddha statue". AP News.
  19. ^ "Tatmadaw's spokesperson General Zaw Min Tun said the military was facing "heavy assaults from a significant number of armed rebel soldiers" in Shan state in the northeast, Kayah state in the east and Rakhine state in the west". The Japan Times. 16 November 2023.
  20. ^ "Clarification by Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, Leader of the Information Committee of the State Administration Council, on the Fabricated News about the incident in Byaingphyu Village in Sittway Township Released by AA Terrorists". Global New Light of Myanmar. 6 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Myanmar military exempts women from draft for now". Nikkei Asia. 22 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Myanmar army arrests ex-presidential spokesman over social media comments". Radio Free Asia. 3 November 2023.
  23. ^ "At the time junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun told the pro-regime Popular News Journal that the priorities were the safety of regime personnel and their families and relations with China". The Irrawaddy. 23 January 2024.
  24. ^ "Myanmar military, ethnic groups agree to instant cease-fire". The Nation Thailand. 14 January 2024.
  25. ^ "Myanmar Says Drone Attack by Ethnic Groups Destroyed 120 Trucks". VOA News. 24 November 2023.
  26. ^ "Fate of military officers unclear following surrender to rebels in Myanmar's Shan state". Radio Free Asia. 23 January 2024.
  27. ^ "ဆိုင်းတောင်တိုက်ပွဲမှ ထွက်ပြေး လွတ်မြောက်နေသော အကြမ်းဖက် ဇော်မင်းထွန်း၏ တူတော်စပ်သူ ခမရ ၁၁၉ တပ်ရင်းမှူး ဒုဗိုလ်မှူးကြီး သက်ပိုင်ထွန်း ဥရုချောင်းအနီး ပစ်ခတ်ဖမ်းဆီးရာမှ သေဆုံးသွားပြီး အလောင်းရရှိ". Khit Thit Media. 10 October 2024.
  28. ^ "ကသိုင်းတောင်တိုက်ပွဲတွင် သေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီဟု သိရှိထားသော ဇော်မင်းထွန်း၏ အမျိုး ခမရ ၁၁၉ တပ်ရင်းမှူး ဒုဗိုလ်မှူးကြီး သက်ပိုင်ထွန်းမှာ ဆိုင်းတောင် Lucky Men ဟိုတယ်တိုက်ပွဲတွင် ထပ်မံ လွတ်မြောက်သွားပြန်". Khit Thit Media. 9 October 2024.
  29. ^ "Answer of Major General Zaw Min Tun, leader of SAC Information Team, to accusations of media". Global New Light Of Myanmar.
  30. ^ "Special thanks to all the media for presenting a fair review of the facts in both voices: SAC Information Team Leader Major Gen Zaw Min Tun". The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Ministry of Information.
  31. ^ "SAC Information Team leader Major General Zaw Min Tun clearly unveils no plan to recruit women for military service now". The Global New Light of Myanmar. 21 February 2024.
  32. ^ "Myanmar Army Steps Up Forced Conscription". The Irrawaddy. 15 February 2024.
  33. ^ "SAC Information Team Leader Major General Zaw Min Tun Make Explanations on the Fighting Situation in Northern Shan State, Rakhine State and Loikaw Township of Kayah State". Myanmar National Portal.
  34. ^ "Myanmar army warns may 'take action' over its election dispute". Reuters.
  35. ^ "Myanmar's military frees thousands of detainees in amnesty". Nepal News. 19 October 2021.
  36. ^ "Myanmar ends state of emergency ahead of December elections". euronews. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  37. ^ France-Presse, Agence (31 July 2025). "Myanmar junta ends state of emergency as it prepares for elections". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  38. ^ "Myanmar ends state of emergency in some parts before planned elections". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  39. ^ "Myanmar Lifts State of Emergency, Paving the Way for Disputed Vote". 31 July 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  40. ^ "Myanmar forms interim government before election but top general still in charge". Reuters. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  41. ^ "ဥပ္ပါတသန္တိစေတီတော်၌ ဗုဒ္ဓမြတ်စွယ်တော်ပူးလာ ရဟန်းရှင်လူပြည်သူများဖြင့်စည်ကားလျက်ရှိ" (PDF). မြန်မာ့အလင်း (in Burmese). 18 November 2011. p. 9.
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