Conditions
Before the revolution, Myanmar had been ruled by General Ne Win since 1962. The country had a national debt of 3.5 billion dollars. In November 1985, students gathered and boycotted the government's decision to withdraw Burmese local currency notes. In 1987, Ne Win announced the withdrawal of the newly replaced currency notes. When Ne Win resigned on 23 July 1988 and appointed Sein Lwin to head a new government, people even got more angry because Sein Lwin was called the Butcher of Yangon; he killed so many people before the revolution.
students
This revolution in 1988 was led and planned by the students in Yangon. Students were angry at the government’s decision as savings for tuition fees were wiped out instantly, and also regime of Sein Lwin, so they decided to protest to become democracy. Students protested against the replacement of currency notes for several times and it became larger and caused a revolution to happen. Students from the Rangoon Institute of Technology ran riot through Yangon by smashing windows and traffic lights down. They spread out the country with hundreds of thousands of ochre-robed monks, young children, university students, housewives, and doctors demonstrating against the government.