Ba Swe - AFPFL Split

AFPFL Split

By mid-1958 Ba Swe had fallen out with his senior colleague U Nu. The AFPFL split into two factions, and Ba Swe together with his colleague Kyaw Nyein and thirteen other ministers resigned from the government on 4 June 1958 and tabled a motion of no-confidence against U Nu in Parliament. On 8 June 1958 the no-confidence motion was put to a vote in Parliament but the government of U Nu survived the motion by a mere 8 votes because the leftist NUF voted with the government.

Allegedly due to the instability arising from the split in the AFPFL and to the escalating insurgent problems U Nu on 26 September 1958 'voluntarily' invited the Army Chief of Staff General Ne Win to take over as Prime Minister in a 'caretaker' capacity for an initial period of six months. On 28 October 1958 the Burmese Parliament, with the support of members from both factions of the AFPFL but in the face of opposition from the NUF, voted to appoint General Ne Win as Prime Minister in a 'caretaker government'. (In his memoirs, entitled "Saturday's Son", translated by U Law Yone and first published in 1974, U Nu claimed that his handover of power was not 'voluntary' but that a group of Army Officers led by Brigadier Aung Gyi and Brigadier Maung Maung threatened him with a 'straight military coup' should he refuse to hand over power to Ne Win.)