Thu Ryain Shwe is a college-level civics teacher and consultant who grew up in Maymyo, an old British hill station near Mandalay (the town is now called Pyin Oo Lwin).
He’s long been interested in politics, but this year he’s taking that interest up a notch and running in the election under the National Unity Party banner. The NUP has more than 700 candidates, making it the third largest political force. At age 26, Thu Ryain Shwe is one of the youngest – some think he is the youngest – candidates to seek office.
But his lack of experience pales in comparison to another problem: his opponent.
The civics teacher is running for a lower house seat in Bago region’s Zigon Township, which is the hometown and constituency of Myanmar’s vice-president, Nyan Tun, a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. As the daunting campaign kicks off today, we asked him about why he wanted to run in the first place, how he almost faced off against Aung San Suu Kyi, and how it feels to be the most-watched underdog story in the country.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What made you get involved in this election?
A: I am civics educator and I also teach at the Myanmar Institute of Theology. There were many students from political parties that took my classes so I got contacts from them. Since I got my degree in university I started working with civil society organizations and I started getting interested in politics.
About three years ago I really wanted to take part in the upcoming 2015 election as an independent candidate to challenge Aung San Suu Kyi [in her constituency]. When they [my students] asked me about my goal in politics, I told them like that, and then someone from the National Unity Party approached me to run in this election as their candidate, to represent them.
Q: So why did you go with the NUP?
Because I believe that the NUP has started institutionalizing the democratic transition in their own party. And I can see that in my class among the participants. The participants from NUP are so smart. They love democratic principles. I respect them. And the second reason why I chose the NUP party is they say that my potential contestant will be the vice-president of Burma. Because I am young, I am ambitious, and I am able to overcome every challenge.
Q: This is vice-president Nyan Tun’s hometown and constituency. Has there been any intimidation?
A: Not yet, but I think they are checking on me.
Q: Is he popular there?
A: Of course, yes. He was very smart when he was young. And in this town, he was a very famous young student. And also when he got his higher position in government he supported building the modern hospital, and modern stadium, some things like that. So most of the people, conservative people in this town, will vote for him.
Q: So how can you hope to win?
A: In my constituency there are 34 wards and village tracts, and only 5 wards in the town. He is only popular in 5 wards. I can get the other 29 wards. Because he only supports the town not the rural area. They still haven’t had electricity and schools in the village. I still have a chance.
Q: Do you think young people will vote for you?
A: I believe that many young people from Zigon will vote for me. I have their support right now. Many young people work for me in my campaign. I don’t work with party people. The NUP people agree with that. I can do whatever I want for my campaign.
Q: Do you see a lot of people like yourself, running for the first time?
A: So many people. For so many it is going to be their first time. I’m sure of that. Because we have had few elections in our country. Before we had no chance to run in the election because there is no election in our country. 2010 there are only a few political parties, and 2012 was a by-election so only a few seats. And now we have thousands of seats and we have so many parties. I mean, I think it’s the most crowded election in a while. 93 political parties and more than 6,000 candidates register to run for only about 1,000 seats.
Q: What did your students say about your decision?
A: They are really happy to support me and they are really proud of me. Most of them, half of them will be voting for the first time in the upcoming election. They are going to work for me in my campaign as volunteers.
Q: What issues do you want to focus on in the campaign?
A: I have one or two. For Bago region, most members of the population are farmers. So I am going to focus on farm issues like land grabbing, farmer rights. And then education. Because every farmer, 90 percent of farmers have children so they care about education.
My next two priorities will be transportation and electricity. Tomorrow I have to go to my campaign area, but there is no proper road. When I go I go by motorbike and sometimes on foot. And for the electricity, only the town has electricity, most of the villages don’t. In our constituency there are 81 villages and roughly 70 percent of them have never had electricity. In education, they finish school in the 4th standard. Like primary school. Those children finish their education right there. Every parent wants to send their child to school but they have no school. If they want higher education, like middle school or high school, the children have to walk eight miles.
Q: Do you think this election will be free and fair?
A: It will be a free election, but the fairness depends on the result. I mean the very final counting.
Photo of Thu Ryain Shwe (L) supplied
