Myanmar's ex-president Thein Sein becomes Buddhist monk

Myanmar’s former president Thein Sein has shed his formal attire – and his hair – to become a Buddhist monk.

Thein Sein’s ordination took place on Monday, officials said, four days after he presided over a historic transition of power to the former opposition party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Photographs on social media show the former general (pictured below right), with his head shaved and dressed in a robe, beside a fellow monk.

Myanmar’s ministry of information released a statement on its Facebook page on Monday saying that Thein Sein will spend five days at the Dhamma Dipati monastery outside Pyin Oo Lwin, a scenic hill town near Mandalay in the centre of the country.

A temporary stint at a monastery is common in the predominantly Buddhist country, where boys are expected to ordain as novice monks at some point in their childhood and then return later in adulthood.

Thein Sein has not spoken publicly about temporarily becoming a monk but the official statement indicated he has been considering it since at least January when he attended a Buddhist conference in Myanmar.

“Recently, the country’s most respected monk, Sitagu, urged ex-president Thein Sein to enter into the Buddhist monkhood when he attended the World Buddhist Conference,” the statement from the ministry of information said.

“Thein Sein told Sitagu that he was busy with the duties of a president and promised that he would be ordained as soon as he finished his term as president.”

The former general was installed as president for a five-year term in 2011 to head a nominally civilian government after the military ended a half century of rule.

In November, the country held its first free election in decades which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won by a landslide.

Thein Sein presided over the transfer of power to the new president, Htin Kyaw, who was handpicked by Aung San Suu Kyi, in a ceremony last Thursday.