Ye Htut

Military career

Ye Htut applied to Defence Services Academy but initially rejected, so enrolled at Rangoon University. He applied again and accepted for the academy’s 22nd intake in 1977. After graduation in 1981, he was dispatched to Kayin State, where he would spend five years fighting the Karen National Union along the Myanmar-Thai border.

Over the next 16 years, he served in Tanintharyi Region, Kayin State, Kachin State and near Naypyidaw, before landing as the chief instructor at a training facility in southern Shan State in 2002. He also contributed articles for the army’s Myawady news journal.

Governmental career

He was retired as a lieutenant colonel in Myanmar Army and took up the post of deputy director general at the Department of Information and Public Relations under the Ministry of Information in 2005. He was promoted as the director general of the department in 2009, which has been viewed as a propaganda machine for the military government.

He became deputy minister for the Ministry of Information in August 2012 when the former minister Kyaw Hsan and deputy ministers were reshuffled to other ministries. He became spokesperson for the President in February 2013.

On July 30, 2014, he was nominated to be Minister for the Ministry of Information. On August 1, the Assembly of the Union confirmed his nomination.

Public image

He is an active Facebook user, has an official account on the social media site where he often shares news from the government and the military and writes his opinions through his Facebook account. He earned the nickname Facebook minister for his frequent use of Facebook.

In 2012, Media reports, particularly those in Eleven Media, suggested that he was behind the blog posts known by the pen name Dr Sate Phwar, who criticized the legislature for acting above the law. However, he denied that the accusations linking him to Dr Seik Phwar. The Assembly of the Union formed a commission to investigate the identity of Dr Seik Phwar after the blogger wrote an article criticising parliament. The commission’s chairman said they found evidence that could implicate him. However, the commission failed to disclose the identity of Dr Seik Phwar, after five months of investigation.

In June 2014, he posted an apology note on his Facebook account after a storm of criticism followed his wife’s sharing of a Photoshopped image of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Hijab. His wife deleted her Facebook account after screenshots of her post were spread by other Facebook users.

Personal life

He married to Khin Sandar Tun. His father, Shwe Than, was formerly the Chief of Burma Police Force and a People's Assembly representative during the socialist era.