Myanmar’s new president-elect told lawmakers today that plans to create a new ethnic affairs ministry were “vital” as he put efforts to heal relations with minorities at the heart of policy in a nation torn by civil wars and sectarian conflict.
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The electric power and energy portfolio will be an early test of her mettle: in 2011 President Thein Sein, bowing to public outrage, suspended work on the huge, Chinese-financed Myitsone dam in the north of the country, which was meant to export most of the power it generated to China. The constitution bars anyone with a foreign spouse or children from being president.
The 611-3 vote by a joint session of Parliament yesterday was the first legislative act by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD.
Notable in the list is Suu Kyi, who was not able to become president because of a constitutional block, even though she led her party to a landslide win in general elections last November.
Aung San Suu Kyi had already made it clear that whatever her title she was going to run the new government.
Blocked by the junta-designed 2008 constitution from becoming president because her sons are foreign nationals, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would, as foreign minister, take one of 11 places on the powerful National Defence and Security Council where the military commands a 6-5 majority.
Suu Kyi, 70, is the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero and has towered over the country’s democracy movement as the figurehead of its spirited, non-violent struggle against decades of military rule.
Also, it ensured that one of the two vice-presidents of Htin Kyaw is a former military man, Myint Swe, who is seen as a close ally of former junta leader Than Shwe. She will also have to let go of her spot on the Hluttaw Development Coordination Team, as members are not allowed to serve executive positions within the government.
A parliamentary vote to confirm the posts is expected later in the week.
The NLD-led government will officially come into power on April 1.
NLD senior official and spokesperson U Zaw Myint Maung last night denied a report by the BBC that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would take three ministerial positions.
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Consultancy firm Vriens & Partners’ managing director in Myanmar, Mr Nyantha Maw Lin, wrote in an e-mail: “There is nothing surprising about (Ms Suu Kyi’s) assumption of a far-reaching role in the Cabinet”.
