On September 18, 1988 the Burmese military under General Saw Maung seized power and established the State Law and Order Restoration Council, crushing the 8888 Uprising in a crackdown that killed large numbers of protesters and beginning a new era of direct military rule. Through August and into September 1988, nationwide pro-democracy protests had all but paralyzed the government, with the civilian President Maung Maung, appointed in August, unable to restore order. On September 18, 1988 the armed forces retook power, repealed the 1974 constitution, and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council under General Saw Maung.
Troops fired on demonstrators across the country in the days that followed, and the movement was broken by the end of September. The takeover deposed the civilian government of President Maung Maung, who was not physically harmed.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Maung Maung, the civilian head of state whose government was deposed by the September 18, 1988 military takeover under Saw Maung; he was not physically harmed.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Maung Maung (civilian president deposed)
Saw Maung (general who led the SLORC takeover)
Sources
On 18 September 1988 the military retook power in the country, General Saw Maung repealed the 1974 constitution and established the State Law and Order Restoration Council, imposing more draconian measures than Ne Win had imposed, and after martial law was imposed the protests were violently broken up.
On Sept. 18, 1988 a new leader, Saw Maung, and a new government, the State Law and Order Restoration Committee, was announced, a coup that was in essence a return to the martial rule of the previous 25 years, with crackdowns beginning across the country the following day.
Tatmadaw troops went through cities throughout Burma indiscriminately firing on protesters, and although an exact body count was never determined as bodies were often cremated, it was estimated that within the first week of securing power some 1,000 students, monks, and schoolchildren were killed, with roughly 3,000 estimated deaths by the end of September and estimates of about 10,000 killed by the end of 1988.
On 27 September 1988 SLORC issued a law allowing political parties to register, and five days later the National League for Democracy, with Aung San Suu Kyi as its general secretary, was formed, before Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in July 1989 and the SLORC set a May 1990 election which her party won resoundingly.
Coding note and dataset examination: the dataset labels this a forced resignation with a not-physically-harmed fate. In substance the September 18, 1988 event was a military takeover, the armed forces under General Saw Maung seizing direct power and forming the SLORC, which deposed the short-lived civilian government of President Maung Maung; the record enriches it as coded while making the nature explicit, since the sitting head of state was displaced by the army's assumption of power. Fate coding: President Maung Maung was not physically harmed, matching the dataset. Arc link: this is the second of two linked Myanmar 1988 records, following the August 12 forced resignation of Sein Lwin; together they mark the collapse of the old order and the start of direct SLORC military rule. Mass-violence context handled with care and cited: the crackdown that accompanied and followed the takeover killed large numbers of protesters, with estimates ranging from about 1,000 in the first week to as many as 10,000 by the end of 1988; these figures are attributed to their source and the uncertainty (bodies often cremated, no exact count) is recorded rather than resolved. Because the dataset's coded deposed leader survived, no killings protocol applies to the fate, but the mass violence is documented neutrally. Aftermath: the SLORC later held a May 1990 election won by Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD, whose result it did not honor, later context. Neutrality maintained on a contested subject.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Maung Maung, the civilian head of state whose government was deposed by the September 18, 1988 military takeover under Saw Maung; he was not physically harmed..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Burma’s military hints at easing reins amid surge in foreign business interest,” November 29, 1994
New York Times
“Burmese Military Officially Takes Reins of Power,” by Seth Mydans, September 19, 1988
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →