Thein Sein ( born 20 April 1945) is a former Burmese politician and retired general in the Myanmar Army who served as the 8th President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016. He previously served as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2011, and is considered by many in and outside Myanmar as a moderate and reformist in the post-junta government. 
His government undertook a series of political reforms including some deregulation of the country's censored media, releasing many political prisoners and halting the country's controversial large Chinese-led hydro-power project. The developments that followed included Myanmar's appointment to chair ASEAN in 2014, improved relations with the US, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi - his 2015 general election rival - from house arrest, and the reinstatement of major opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) in the by-election held on 1 April 2012.[2]Thein Sein was born in Kyonku, British Burma (now Myanmar), a small Irrawaddy delta village near Hainggyi Island in what is now Ngapudaw Township to Maung Phyo (father) and Khin Nyunt (mother).[3] He was the youngest of three children. His parents were landless farmers, and his father made a living carrying cargo at the river jetty and weaving bamboo mats.[3][4] Thein Sein's father Maung Phyo became a Buddhist monk 10 years after his wife's death, and spent his remaining years as a monk.[3]
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