Myo Yan Naung Thein
Myo Yan Naung Thein was born on 31 March 1974 in Hledan, Kamayut, Yangon, Myanmar. He is a Burmese pro-democracy activist and former chief research officer of the NLD's Central Committee for Research and Strategy Studies. He is the co-founder and director of the Bayda Institute which serves as the NLD's academic branch. He has spent more than a decade in various prisons for his aspiration for democracy in Burma under military dictatorship. He has remained a strong advocate for ethics' rights such as unity in equality and harmony in diversity and campaigning for to end the civil war and to achieve everlasting peace in Burma. In the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Myo Yan Naung Thein and other six high profile individuals, namely Min Ko Naing, Kyaw Min Yu, Mg Mg Aye, Pencilo, Insein Aung Soe and Lynn Lynn were charged and issued arrest warrants under section 505 (b) of the penal code by the military coup. He fled the country and is now a Visiting Researcher in the Rhetoric and Composition Program in the Department of English at the University of Virginia. Myo Yan Naung Thein's work is admired by and met with many leaders around the world including US President Barack Obama, Germany President, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague.