When international broadcaster CNN reported the decision by the National League for Democracy to name U Htin Kyaw as its nominee for the presidency, it made an understandable error. It illustrated the story with a photo of the wrong Htin Kyaw. CNN used an image of Ko Htin Kyaw, a prominent activist who is much better known to the public than President Htin Kyaw, whom many in Myanmar knew little about until his appointment.
Ko Htin Kyaw, 53, the leader of the community-based Movement for Democracy Current Force, is famous because of aggressive and unrelenting political activism targeting the military junta and U Thein Sein’s administration.
He has been arrested and jailed so many times for his political activism that Amnesty International called on the authorities in September 2014 to cease their “relentless persecution”. During one of his many court appearances, he displayed Thein Sein’s name written on the sole of his foot, a powerful cultural insult. He called it his “sole campaign”. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
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