Ne Win in S'pore for treatment

Ne Win in S'pore for treatment

YANGON (DPA): Former Myanmar military strongman Ne Win flew to Singapore on Sunday morning to receive medical treatment for a blood clot in his brain, official sources said.

Ne Win, 88, departed Yangon airport at about 8:30 a.m. local time on a Myanmar Airways International (MIA) flight bound for Singapore, said the official, who asked to remain unidentified.

He was accompanied by his daughter Sadar Win, his son-in-law Aye Zaw Win and 13 other people. His condition was deemed serious as witnesses said the entourage was taking Ne Win in wheel chair.

Gen. Ne Win stepped down from public life in the aftermath of mass antigovernment protests in 1988 and has kept a low-profile since, although some say he remains the "puppet master" behind the current military regime.

He led a coup d'etat in 1962 that ousted the civilian government of the democratically elected prime minister U Nu and the once prosperous Southeast Asian country.