San Yu (3 March 1918-30 January 1996) was President of Burma from 9 November 1981 to 27 July 1988, succeeding Ne Win and preceding Sein Lwin.
Biography[]
San Yu was born in Pegu, British Burma in 1918 to a Hakka Chinese father and a Bamar mother, and he served in the Burma Independence Army during World War II before rising in the ranks of the Tatmadaw after independence. He was promoted to Brigadier-General in 1959, and he becaeme Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army after the 1962 coup. From 1972 to 1974, he served as commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw, and he retired from the army in 1978. He went on to serve as President of Burma from 1981 to 1988, although Ne Win, Chairman of the BSPP, held the real power. He retired in 1988 and died in 1996.