Abel had served as the personal assistant of then-President General
San Yu of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. He retired the
Tatmadaw in 1991 as a Director General of Procurement, with a rank of
Brigadier General. Abel serving in the military, he has received many honors. Throughout his military career, he served in various civil administration posts. He was appointed by the
State Law and Order Restoration Council to serve as a cabinet minister for the
Ministry of Commerce (Burma), the
Ministry of Finance (Burma),
Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, and the Ministry of
State Peace and Development Council's Office before retiring in 2003. Abel was hailed as the economic architect of the country for pushing for privatisation and establishing some of the largest military-owned enterprises of the country,
Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL),
Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) in 1990, along with 12 joint venture companies, and served as Chairman of the
Myanmar Investment Commission until 1997. Abel stood out as a member of the junta because he was media-friendly, outspoken and a member of a religious minority. He was a
Roman Catholic in a junta dominated by Buddhists and before pre-publication censorship was lifted in August 2012 could only be referred to by his family name because his Christian name, “David”, was banned from publication. ==Personal life and death==