Author Nan Nyunt Swe dies at 87

Thursday, 15 July 2010 01:06 Khai Suu

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Writer Nan Nyunt Swe, aka U Aung Thein, died early yesterday evening at his home in Yankin Township, Rangoon, a relative said.

He is the father of comedian and political prisoner Zarganar (tweezers), aka Thura, 49, who is serving a 35-year prison term in Myitkyina prison in Kachin State.

“He died naturally at five o’clock this evening after suffering from a mild fever last night. This evening he didn’t wake up again from a nap after having some food”, Ma Nyein, sister-in-law of Zargana, told Mizzima yesterday.

“I feel very sorry for him as he died while his son was away from home. He wrote many articles on Burmese culture”, the journalist Maung Wun Tha said.

Sayagyi (master) Nan Nyunt Swe was born in 1923 to father U Htet and mother Daw Shwe Saing in Yathat village, Sinmyiswe Township, in the Pyi district of Pegu Division.

He served in the Information Department (Central Motion Picture) from 1948 to 1953 and joined the Ministry of Culture in 1953. He attended political training at Mingaladon Central Political Institute in 1967 and cadre training at Hmawbi Agricultural Training Institute in 1967.

He published the Metta Taythan poems in 1968, the Sasoman poems in 1978, compiled biographies and wrote articles on music in classics and pop. He also wrote under the pseudonym, Thu Kha Mein. He was married to Thakinma (mistress) Daw Hla Kyi aka writer Yuwaddy Kyi Oo in 1955 and had three sons: Wunna (deceased), Tay Za and comedian Thura.

Ma Nyein said that family members were trying to inform Zarganar, who was arrested in June 2008 after speaking to foreign media about Cyclone Nargis and providing assistance to victims and was charged under electronics, state security and video laws. He was given a 35-year jail term. His mother Daw Hla Kyi died of liver disease at the age of 83 in March last year.

Sayagyi Nan Nyunt Swe will be cremated at Yeway cemetery at 11 a.m today. He is survived also by two grandchildren.