Editing Ne Win (section)

==Date of birth==
Ne Win's date of birth is a subject of debate among various sources. The English-language publication ''Who's Who in Burma,'' published in 1961 by People's Literature House, Rangoon, lists Ne Win's birthdate as 14 May 1911.{{Sfn|Taylor|2015|pp=7–9}} This date is also supported by Dr. [[Maung Maung]] in the Burmese version of his book ''Burma and General Ne Win'', also published in English, that Ne Win was born on 14 May 1911.<ref>Ne Win was known as described as the leader of Myanmar and there are two assumptions of his birth.({{Harvard citation no brackets|Taylor|2015|pp=3–4}})</ref> However, in a book written in Burmese titled ''The Thirty Comrades'', the author Kyaw Nyein gave Ne Win's date of birth as 10 July 1910.{{Sfn|Mya|1992|pp=1–2}} While 24 May 1911 is widely cited as Ne Win's birthdate in many scholarly works and biographical references, the discrepancies among sources warrant acknowledgment. These conflicting accounts highlight the challenges in determining Ne Win's exact birthdate and may stem from differences in historical documentation or cultural interpretations. Therefore, while 24 May 1911 is commonly accepted, alternative dates cannot be disregarded entirely.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U Ne Win (born May 24, 1911, Paungdale, Burma [Myanmar]—died December 5, 2002, Yangon, Myanmar) Burmese general who was the leader of Burma (now Myanmar) from 1962 to 1988. |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/U-Ne-Win |website=[[Britannica]]|date=28 March 2024 }}</ref>

[[File:David Ben Gurion - General Ne Win PM of Burma 1959.jpg|thumb|[[David Ben-Gurion]], the [[Prime Minister of Israel]] and General Ne Win as [[Prime Minister of Burma]] on 8 June 1959]]

Kyaw Nyein's date of 1910 can be considered as the more plausible date. First, Kyaw Nyein had access to historical records and he interviewed many surviving members of the Thirty Comrades when he wrote the book in the mid-to late 1990s.{{Sfn|Taylor|2015|pp=13–15}} (Ne Win was one of the [[Thirty Comrades]] who secretly went to undergo military training in the early 1940s for the purpose of fighting for independence from the British).{{Sfn|Maung|1965|p=9}} In his book published around 1998, Kyaw Nyein lists the names of the surviving members of the Thirty Comrades whom he had interviewed, although Ne Win was not mentioned among them.{{Sfn|Mya|1992|pp=4–8}} Secondly, when Ne Win died on 5 December 2002, the Burmese language newspapers that were allowed to carry a paid obituary stated the age of 'U Ne Win' to be '93 years'.<ref>The age of the Myanmar's dictator may be 93 years.{{Harvard citation no brackets|Taylor|2015|p=74}}</ref> According to Burmese custom, a person's age is their age upon their next birthday.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Maung (U)|first=Maung|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTtuAAAAMAAJ|title=Burma and General Ne Win|date=1969|publisher=Asia Publishing House|isbn=978-0-210-98196-2|pages=34–35|language=en|access-date=18 November 2020|archive-date=18 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318201336/https://books.google.com/books?id=hTtuAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Since Ne Win turned 92 in July 2002, when he died in December 2002 he was considered to be 93 years old.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Butwell|first=Richard|date=1972|title=Ne Win's Burma: At the End of the First Decade|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2643067|journal=Asian Survey|volume=12|issue=10|pages=901–912|doi=10.2307/2643067|jstor=2643067|issn=0004-4687|access-date=7 November 2020|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207115536/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2643067|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Most Western news agencies, based on the May 1911 birth date, reported that Ne Win was 91 years old, but the obituary put up by his family (most probably his children) stated that he was 93 years old, which most likely stems from [[East Asian age reckoning]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ne Win|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810105500370|access-date=7 November 2020|website=Oxford Reference|language=en|archive-date=18 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318105947/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810105500370|url-status=live}}</ref>