Pe Myint
{{short description|Burmese politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{family name hatnote|lang=Burmese|Pe Myint}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = His Excellency
Dr
| name = Pe Myint
| honorific-suffix =
| native_name = {{lang|my|ဖေမြင့်}}
| native_name_lang = Burmese
| caption = Pe Myint in 2014
| order =
| image = Union Minister of Information Myanmar Dr Pe Myint in Myanmar Dress.jpg
| office = Minister for Information of Myanmar
| term_start = 30 March 2016
| term_end = 1 February 2021
| president = Htin Kyaw
Myint Swe (acting)
Win Myint
| predecessor = Ye Htut
| successor = Chit Naing
| succeeding =
| order2 =
| office2 =
| term_start2 =
| term_end2 =
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|12|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = Thandwe, Burma (Myanmar)
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Burmese
| party =
| residence = Naypyidaw
| alma_mater = University of Medicine 1, Yangon
| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|writer|physician}}
| profession =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Pe Myint ({{langx|my|ဖေမြင့်}} {{IPA|my|pʰè mjɪ̰ɴ|}}; born 15 December 1949) is a Burmese politician, writer and a former Minister for Information of Myanmar (Burma).
Early life and education
Pe Myint was born on 15 December 1949 in Sandoway, Burma (now Thandwe, Myanmar) to Aung Nyein and Khin Thein.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/7daynews/posts/1117673254960974|title=ပြည်ထောင်စုဝန်ကြီးများ၏ကိုယ်ရေးအကျဉ်းမျာ|last=|first=|date=|website=7Day News Journal|language=my|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=25 April 2020}} He is of Rakhine descent.
Career
Pe Myint graduated from Thandwe State High School in Rakhine State in 1966 and Institute of Medicine 1, Rangoon in 1975.{{cite web|url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/special-features/165-back-to-school-2013/6759-back-in-my-day-education-in-the-1960s.html|title=Looking back: education in the 1960s|author=The Myanmar Times|publisher=}} He worked as a physician until 1988. He received training as a journalist at the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation in Bangkok.{{cite web|url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/nay-pyi-taw/19609-who-s-who-myanmar-s-new-cabinet.html|title=Who's who: Myanmar's new cabinet|author1=Lun Min Mang |author2=Aung Shin |author3=Thomas Kean |author4=Laignee Barron |publisher=}}
He previously served as the vice chairperson of the Myanmar Press Council, editor-in-chief of The People's Age Journal, editor of Sarpaylawka Book House and Myanmar Book Publishing House.{{cite web|url=http://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/u-pe-myint|title=U Pe Myint|publisher=}}{{cite web|url=http://www.irrawaddy.com/interview/incoming-info-minister-pe-myint-will-ensure-press-freedom.html|title=Incoming Info Minister Pe Myint: 'I Will Ensure Press Freedom'|work=The Irrawaddy}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/nay-pyi-taw/19657-information-minister-to-tackle-state-subsidies.html|title=Information minister to tackle state subsidies|author=Lun Min Mang|publisher=}}
On 22 March 2016, he was nominated to be Minister for Information in President Htin Kyaw's Cabinet. On 24 March, the Assembly of the Union confirmed his nomination.{{cite web|url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/19591-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-to-join-government-as-nld-reveals-cabinet.html|title=Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to join government as NLD reveals cabinet|author=The Myanmar Times|publisher=}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/nay-pyi-taw/19571-with-all-eyes-on-daw-suu-nld-set-to-reveal-cabinet.html|title=With all eyes on Daw Suu, NLD set to reveal cabinet|author=Ei Ei Toe Lwin|publisher=}}{{cite web|url=http://quadrangleonline.com/2016/03/26/myanmar-president-to-include-aung-san-suu-kyi-in-his-cabinet/|title=Myanmar president to include Aung San Suu Kyi in his Cabinet|publisher=}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/world/india-lends-a-helping-hand-to-myanmar-in-government-formation/story-346KfWOT32LEzpkNnNaPPO.html|title=India lends a helping hand to Myanmar in government formation|work=hindustantimes.com}}{{cite book | title=နှစ်ဆယ် ရာစု မြန်မာ စာရေး ဆရာ များနှင့် စာစု စာရင်း | publisher=ပညာရွှေတောင် စာအုပ်တိုက် | author=ပြန်ကြားရေးနှင့် ပြည်သူ့ ဆက်ဆံရေး ဦးစီး ဌာန (ရုံးချုပ်) စာတည်း အဖွဲ့ | date=April 2003}} Following the military-led 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, the Myanmar Armed Forces appointed Chit Hlaing as Pe Myint's successor on 1 February 2021.{{Cite web|date=2021-02-01|title=Myanmar's Health Minister Resigns After Military Takeover|url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmars-health-minister-resigns-military-takeover.html|access-date=2021-02-01|website=The Irrawaddy|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2021-02-01|title=Tatmadaw names new govt officials|url=https://www.mmtimes.com/news/tatmadaw-names-new-government-officials.html|access-date=2021-02-01|website=The Myanmar Times}}
Literary works
Pe Myint is a well-known writer and won Myanmar National Literature Award in 1995. He has published over forty books of fiction, non-fiction, and translated works.{{cite web|url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/lifestyle/19751-from-well-read-writer-to-minister.html|title=From well-read writer to minister|author=Zon Pann Pwint|publisher=}}
Some of his original and translated works include
- 1975 — The Hospital (original by Arthur Hailey, The Final Diagnosis)
- 1977 — Ward No. 6 (original by Anton Chekhov, Ward No. 6)
- 1988 — First Love (original by Ivan Turgenev, First Love)
- 1993 — On Death and Other Short Stories
- 1993 — Normal Mind and Normal Behaviour (A Collection of Articles on Applied Psychology)
- 1995 — Parts for Sale and Other Short Stories (won Myanmar National Literature Award)
- 1997 — The Richest Man in Babylon (original by George Samuel Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon)