Myanmar junta removes police chief 

Lt-Gen Than Hlaing was removed from his position this week as chief of the junta’s police force and deputy minister of home affairs—replaced by a lower ranking general, Myanmar Now has learned. 

The military council carried out the internal shuffle on Monday, sending 57-year-old Than Hlaing—who has been blacklisted by the EU and US—back to his previous army duties as an officer. Maj-Gen Zin Min Htet, the military’s Joint Adjutant General since 2019, will be taking over his post. 

In his senior role within the junta—which he was appointed to one day after the February 1, 2021 coup—Than Hlaing also oversaw the armed forces’ efforts to crush local defence forces in the resistance strongholds of Magway and Sagaing regions. He had previously served as the head of the military’s Eastern Central Regional Command in Shan State and the Northwestern Regional Command in Sagaing. 

Brig-Gen Phyo Thant, the junta-appointed head of the Northwestern Regional Command tasked with fighting guerrilla forces in the area, was also removed from his position in January. 

Than Hlaing’s replacement

A military source told Myanmar Now that Maj-Gen Zin Min Htet was a member of the Defence Services Academy’s (DSA) 32nd intake, graduating from the officer training school three years after Than Hlaing.

Although little is known about his duties between graduation and his assumption of the joint adjutant role, the source claimed that Zin Min Htet once served as the head of the Defence Services Computer and Technological University. 

In recent years, he organised and oversaw sports and music competitions, leading Myanmar’s military band in the International Army Games in Russia in 2018.

Zin Min Htet is in his early 50s and married to Dr Thazin Khin, a urologist from Naypyitaw’s 1,000-bed hospital, according to a friend who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity. 

The individual claimed that the new police commander comes from a family of civil servants, and has two daughters. 

Beginning in 1997, during an earlier military administration headed by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Zin Min Htet served for six years as the personal staff officer (PSO) for Gen Kat Sein, the then minister of health.

“He wanted to be a military attaché,” the friend explained. “He was first transferred back to the military office after being a PSO and he became a major. Then he was deployed in Laukkai as a deputy battalion commander,” he said, referring to the ethnic Kokang region of northern Shan State, where the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Myanmar military. 

Protégé of regime chief appointed Naypyitaw commander 

Wider internal shuffle

Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing has removed several generals from their positions since the coup, despite indefinitely extending his own term as head of defence services. 

Days after his attempted seizure of power last year, he did away with an age restriction that would have required him to step down when he turned 65, which he did in July of last year.

Air force chief Gen Maung Maung Kyaw retired without notice in January, despite being eligible to keep his role for an additional two years until the age of 60. Junta spokesperson Gen Zaw Min Tun confirmed that Maung Maung Kyaw would remain a member of the military council, but he has not been seen publicly taking part in junta-related activities since the announcement. 

Gen Mya Tun Oo, seen as the third most powerful person in the military, was removed from his post as the chief of staff of the army, air force and navy immediately following the coup and re-appointed as defence minister. Meanwhile, Lt-Gen Aung Lin Dwe was made secretary of the military council after having previously served as the armed forces’ judge advocate general. Both moves were seen as demotions.

The navy’s chief, Admiral Tin Aung San, was also re-assigned to the role of transport and communications minister. He was replaced by Admiral Moe Aung, who, at 56, is Min Aung Hlaing’s junior by nine years.

It follows a larger pattern of the coup leader replacing the top leaders with younger generals.

Others include the junta’s joint secretary and chief of military security affairs Gen Ye Win Oo, army chief of staff Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun and adjutant general Lt-Gen Myo Zaw Thein—all in their 50s and recently appointed by Min Aung Hlaing. 

Quartermaster general Lt-Gen Kyaw Swar Lin was just 49 years old when he was promoted in 2020 to become the youngest lieutenant general in Myanmar military history. 

Maj-Gen Zaw Hein, also in his 40s, is currently head of the Naypyitaw Regional Command, and graduated from the DSA’s 38th intake. Prior to his appointment as commander, he was the headmaster of the DSA, and once served as a PSO for Min Aung Hlaing.